Duterte undaunted by assassination buzz from AFP, CIA

Questions importance of EDCA to Ph

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – “If it’s destiny to be assassinated hanggang diyan na lang ako (then my life stops there),” declared by presidential front runner Rodrigo Duterte when asked if he was not anxious that the military and the Central Intelligence Agency might kill him because he is friendly with the communists and a threat to the U.S military interest in Asia.

Philippines Presidential Frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte
Photo Credit: Pinoy Insider

Lately, media reported that Francis Bundoc Besin called Bong Go, the chief aide of Duterte, that two assassins have been hired for ten million pesos to liquidate the presidential aspirant from powerful sniper rifles provided by principals in the police.

“If God wants me to be president I will be there,” he stressed to this paper after the third leg of the presidential debate held here last Sunday.

In the April 18-20 Social Weather Station’s polls, the Davao City mayor led by six points to 33 percent his nearest presidential opponent Senator Grace Poe who received only 24 percent from the voters.

The survey’s time frame included his gaffe about his humor why he was not included first in the queue to rape the Australian missionary 36-year-old Jacqueline Hamil who was gang raped by hostage takers in 1989.

“Iyang sa Davao City raped ng Australian pinatay ko lahat iyong 16 (I killed all those 16 rapists and hostage takers of the Australian in Davao City),” he declared here.

Duterte also questioned the importance of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, a military alliance between the Philippines and the U.S, in case war explodes between the Philippines and China because the latter bars Filipino fishermen in the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoals.

“Is America, is EDCA useful to us? Mag pakamatay ba sila sa atin (would the Americans die for us (in case of war against China ensued)?” he posed.

He was unfazed when told by this paper that many members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the social media like Face Book are jittery that the revocation of EDCA and the increasing flow of military aid from the Americans would ceased in case he becomes president of the Philippines.

Duterte in the past announced that he was willing to have bilateral talks and joint exploration agreement with Mainland China on the disputed territories claimed by the Philippines.

“Let’s see, why? Are we dependent on the U.S for our problem here? Is the United States ready to die with us for us in the Spratly issue?”

The U.S had history of colluding with local military men in ousting and even killing elected presidents or prime ministers of countries like in Chile, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, and others who threatened the interest of the Americans.

Together with Japan and Australia, the U.S presently have been wary about the growing military presence of China who built infrastructures and airports in the South China Sea – a sea lane for cargo ships that ferry five trillion of U.S dollars trade yearly.

Meanwhile, the presidential front runner’s vice presidential tandem Senator Alan Peter Cayetano said that some of their friends and supporters cautioned the mayor to be careful what he said lest it can offend military ally America.

Cayetano heard the mayor said that  the Philippines should be independent of her foreign policy and should protect it.

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