PRESIDENT Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory in the US elections.
“We look forward to working closely with the new administration of President-elect Biden anchored on mutual respect, mutual benefit, and shared commitment to democracy, freedom and the rule of law. Congratulations and we wish him all the best,” a statement released by Malacañang said.
It added the Philippines and the US have long-standing bilateral relations and the Duterte administration is committed to enhancing the country’ relations with America under the Biden administration.
Robredo, on Twitter, said the victory of Biden and Harris “is an affirmation of the shared ideals on which the long friendship between our two nations stand: democracy, civil rights, faith, and inclusivity. I pray for your success!”
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the country is prepared to continue working with the US government regardless of who won the elections.
“Our foreign policy has been friend to all, enemy to none… I think we have built a strong diplomatic relation with the United States. We can work with any president of the United States,” he said.
President Duterte is known to consider Trump as a “friend” and has publicly issued expletives against former American President Barack Obama whose vice president was Biden.
At the House, opposition lawmaker Rep. Edcel Lagman (Albay) said Trump’s defeat shows the world that “the electorate cannot be fooled twice by an elected President who has acted erratically and irresponsibly.”
“He or his proxy will be rejected in the immediately succeeding election,” Lagman said without naming President Duterte who has drawn a lot of comparison to Trump for his populist style and alleged dictatorial tendencies.
Lagman said Trump’s downfall shows that a country cannot have a comedian for a President.
“A President as head of state cannot moonlight as the prime court jester. Lies and false propaganda cannot be embellished without being unmasked. Policy flip-flopping has its limits and cannot prevail for long,” he said. “The politics of sowing discord merits the people’s wrath. Broken promises for reforms take their toll on election day.”
Lagman said failure to successfully confront the COVID-19 pandemic, which is also one of the criticisms against Duterte, is a “political pitfall.”
An official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said Biden’s election would greatly benefit Filipino migrants.
“Immigrants could secure citizenship, skilled laborers could travel and seek work, and the reunification of children separated to their families,” said Bishop Ruperto Santos, vice chairman of the CBCP’s Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People.
Under the Trump administration, it has been the policy to make it difficult for people to come to the US to study, work, and seek refuge. — With Wendell Vigilia and Gerard Naval
