Australian FM contradicts Duterte: We spoke about human rights

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop contradicted President Rodrigo Duterte, saying they discussed human rights during their meeting in Davao City last week.

In a statement to Fairfax Media published on The Sydney Morning Herald on Monday, Bishop said that she relayed her country's concerns with respect to killings related to Duterte's war on drugs.

"During my conversation with President Duterte we discussed the country's anti-drug campaign at length," she said.

"I conveyed Australian and international concerns with respect to extrajudicial killings and spoke of the importance we attach to human rights and the rule-of-law," she added.

Met with ???????? President Duterte and discussed matters of bilateral, regional and global significance #Mindanao pic.twitter.com/16eljIHUK2

— Julie Bishop (@JulieBishopMP) March 17, 2017

In a briefing in Davao City before going to Myanmar on Sunday, Duterte said that he "never discussed human rights" with Bishop and her delegation.

"They are so courteous. Maybe alam nila. Because if you say that, if you utter those things in my presence, you’ll get an insult. So what we did was to discuss transnational crimes, terrorism," he said.

"Nobody but nobody, not even the United States, ever, ever opened up the human rights in front of me," he added.

Bishop paid a courtesy call on Duterte in Davao City on Friday.

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that Duterte and Bishop discussed terrorism, violent extremism, as well as maritime safety and freedom of navigation and overflight.

Abella also said that Australia pledged $40 million for the Mindanao peace process, while Duterte expressed interest in learning about responsible mining from Bishop's country. —Trisha Macas/JST, GMA News