MANILA (Updated) — President Rodrigo Duterte called US President-elect Donald Trump Friday, December 2, and had a brief but "very engaging, animated conversation" in which both leaders invited each other to visit his country.
In a video released by Special assistant to the President Christopher "Bong" Go, Duterte is seen smiling while talking to Trump and saying: "We will maintain ... and enhance the bilateral ties between our two countries."
Duterte shuffled and looked at some notes during the conversation, which Go said lasted for more than seven minutes.
Duterte expressed support to the administration's war on drugs.
"He (Trump) was quite sensitive also to our worry about drugs. And he wishes me well in my campaign, and he said that, well, we are doing it as a sovereign nation, the right way," Duterte said.
"And he was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem. He understood the way we are handling it and I said there’s nothing wrong in protecting a country. It was a bit very encouraging in the sense that I supposed that what he really wanted to say was that he would be the last to interfere in the affairs of your own country,” he added.
The presidential palace earlier announced that Duterte will make a "congratulatory call" to Trump from his hometown Davao city.
The President said that in just a few minutes, he had talked "a lot of things" with Trump.
"He wishes us well. And I said that, well, we assured him of our ties with America… I could sense a good rapport, an animated President-elect Trump," he said.
It was not immediately clear if the touchy topic of Duterte's bloody crackdown against illegal drugs came up during the chat. Duterte has lashed out at outgoing President Barack Obama and the State Department for raising concerns over the crackdown, which has left more than 4,000 suspected drug dealers and users dead.
During their talk, Trump invited Duterte to visit the White House next year and Duterte asked the US president-elect to attend an East Asian summit to be hosted by the Philippines next year.
"I mentioned to him about the Asean summit next year and he said that he will try his best to be here. He wants to attend the summit and that would be great for our country," the President said.
Following their conversation, Duterte believed that Trump would be a good president of the United States.
"I appreciate the response that I got from President-elect Trump and I would like to wish him success. He will be a good president for the United States of America. I am very sure," Duterte said. (AP/Sunnex)