Duterte “brilliant” in global stage debut, says Yasay

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Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. On Friday said that President Rodrigo Duterte’s global stage debut was “brilliant” amidst the diplomatic storm he created with  United States President Barack Obama after allegedly calling him “son of a bitch” which dominated the buzz at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Laos this week.

“He was brilliant and superb, and on a scale of 1 to 10… I give him a high score of 8.5,” Yasay told reporters.

Yasay said Duterte has earned the admiration of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long.

“They were impressed with his performance, what he said, his insights and diplomatic decorum, and his ability to understand what was happening around the world,” Yasay said.

The Foreign Affairs secretary said that Duterte was “able to express and articulate the concerns we wanted to raise, particularly our efforts in the fight against illegal drugs and the steps we have taken consistent with the Constitution, rule of law and upholding human rights” in the prosecution of suspects and the rehabilitation of users.

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