Duterte's Accusation That America Has No Honour is a Flat Out Lie

Uh-oh he did it again. Duterte cursed the USA and accused America of having no honour while extolling the altruism of Russia and China. 

https://www.rt.com/news/460691-americans-lack-honor-duterte/

The US administration is not true to their promises, President Rodrigo Duterte stressed, still angry about Washington bailing out on a small arms shipment to its former territory under the pretext of human rights violations. 

“The US is something else, too bossy. Their lieutenants talk like generals. That’s why I don’t listen to them. They do not have a word of honor,” Duterte said in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday, recalling how Washington halted the planned sale of 26,000 assault rifles for the Philippines’ national police in 2016.

Why he would bring up this incident from 2016 is anyone's guess. But let's get the facts straight. ONE and ONLY ONE Senator on the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee opposed this sale. Allegedly because of this one man's complaint the sale was halted but this has never been confirmed. The US never gave notice to the Philippines that the sale was cancelled.  There were only rumours floating about and it was DUTERTE who cancelled the deal.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/842010/duterte-cancels-us-firearms-deal

The transaction was earlier reported to have been canceled by the United States, but the Philippine National Police said it had received no such notice and plans to continue the P1.7-billion deal. 

But on Monday, Mr. Duterte made it clear that the deal would not be pushing through. 

“I would like to announce now that the 26,000 [rifles] that was, maybe, ordered or were ordered already, I am ordering its cancelation by the police,” he said in a speech in Malacañang on Monday.

Instead of talking to the ambassador or anyone in Washington DUTERTE, on the basis of a media report, cancelled the deal all on his own. This is the exact same thing that happened last year when Duterte cancelled a helicopter deal with Canada.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/09/18/duterte-terminates-canada-chopper-deal

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday ordered the cancellation of a $233-million chopper deal with Canada after several Canadian politicians questioned why Ottawa allowed the purchase despite reported human rights violations in the country under the tough-talking Filipino leader. 

“I want to tell the Armed Forces to cut the deal. Huwag na ituloy and somehow we will look for another supplier. We respect the stand of Canada,” Duterte said in a news conference in Davao City. 

"Do not buy anymore from Canada or from the United States because there is always a condition attached." 

Ottawa had raised concerns the choppers would be used to fight rebels after Maj. Gen. Restituto Padilla, chief of plans at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said the helicopters would be used for internal security operations apart from deployment in search-and-rescue and disaster relief missions. 

Canada's International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne earlier said the deal formally signed Tuesday had been struck in 2012 on the understanding the helicopters would be used for search-and-rescue missions. 

"When we saw that declaration ... we immediately launched a review with the relevant authorities. And we will obviously review the facts and take the right decision," Champagne told reporters, without giving more details. 

Asked later whether he was concerned the helicopters might be used against Filipino citizens, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau replied: "Absolutely." 

Canada has very clear regulations about to whom it can sell weapons and how they can be used, he said during a question and answer event at the University of Chicago.

Without taking into consideration that this deal had been struck 6 years prior and without considering that the Philippines itself had declared what the purpose of the helicopters would be thus making the deal conditional upon said use and without considering that the AFP said the choppers would be used for purposes not previously stated Duterte unilaterally canceled the deal after Canada said they wanted to review it. Now the Philippines is without the helicopters it needs. Now the Philippines is worse off because Duterte got offended and threw a tantrum.

Despite the helicopter ordeal and even the garbage debacle Duterte does not regularly denounce Canada as having no honour as he does the USA. For what purpose does he continually denounce the USA saying Americans have no honour and they don't keep their promises when the exact opposite is true?

When the Marawi siege happened it was not China or Russia that lent the first hand. It was America. It was the US Military which provided weapons and intelligence.

Chinese and Russian weapons did not arrive in the Philippines until the siege was almost over. Yet Duterte went out of his way to lie to the nation about the AFP using a Chinese made rifle to kill Isnilon Hapilon just to snub the Americans all the while knowing full well what the real contribution of the US military had been. Is that honourable? Is it honourable to lie to the nation about your most reliable and trusted ally?

If the US has no honour then why sign the EDCA when Trump visited?

If the US has no honour then why allow Operation Pacific Eagle to operate within the country?

If the US has no honour then why continue to receive weapons, training, and money from the US? 

If the US has no honour then why did they return the Balangiga Bells?

If the US has no honour then why are thousands of groups in the Philippines receiving US aid? 

If the US has no honour then why do thousands of Filipinos flock to her shores every year looking for a better life?

What's worse is that the audience applauded his remarks. Those ignorant people and many more like them here in the Philippines actually believe the US has no honour and is simply trying to push the Philippines around and have their own way. What fools these Pinoys be!

Instead of governing and being a leader Duterte has shown himself time and again to be nothing more than a child who will tear down everything if he does not get his way. He fired an official who contradicted him on drug stats, he withdrew the Philippines from the ICC because he did not want to face an investigation, he has routinely cursed the international community because he does not take kindly to criticism, he cut off diplomatic relations with Canada and threatened war over garbage, and he has gleefully delighted in proclaiming he would gladly declare a revolutionary government to silence his critics.

In fact I think this personality trait is inherent in a lot of Filipinos. Rather than sit down and figure out a way they will angrily destroy everything in order to get back at their foe. He is not the first president to throw a tantrum over the US. President Macapagal threw one back in 1962 after the US declined to send money which was promised. To get back at the US he changed Independence Day from July 4th to June 12th. The money came a few months later after the US Congress sorted it all out. But because the president threw a temper tantrum and could not stand to talk it out with the Americans the country now celebrates a lie every year. 

When it comes to honour Duterte has no moral high ground. This is a man who has admitted to killing people, admitted to being friends with terrorists, admitted to planting evidence while he was a lawyer, routinely jokes about rape, talks about battling corruption but rehires corrupt officials, and abandoned his wife for his current mistress. Duterte is not an honourable man nor is the Philippines an honourable nation. A nation where everyone litters, men piss in public, animals are neglected, friends and family are taken advantage of for a few pesos, and politicians sell votes and plunder the  nation's coffers is not a nation of honour.