MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is done with the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), President Duterte made clear again yesterday as he stressed the country has no need for a superpower like the United States to defend its territory, or fight local insurgency and terrorism. “You cannot toy around with the Republic of the Philippines with a knee-jerk reaction. It’s always what is good for our country and for our…,” Duterte said in a mix of English and Filipino. “We can be a territory of the Americans or we can be a province of China. He assailed the US for using the human rights issues against him to withhold the release of grants or assistance.

Source: Philippine Star February 27, 2020 16:30 UTC