Trump joins Putin, Kim Jong-un on Duterte’s list of ‘idols’

President Rodrigo Duterte has added his United States counterpart, Donald Trump, to the list of world leaders that he admires, saying they both have the same attitude toward governance.

Duterte on Tuesday marveled at his good relationship with Trump as both men have often been compared because of their brash style and provocative language.

“Trump is my idol. Why? Because he walks the talk. When he says that I will do this, he does not care,” Duterte said at a business forum attended by Filipino and Israeli businessmen at a hotel in Jerusalem.

“So that's the kind of thing that I also want. I do not care, I said, if I say that this is the way to do it then this is the way to do it. It has no personal agenda, it has nothing there except that the greater interest of the nation says that we have to be here. That's all,” he added.

Apart from Trump, Duterte also considers Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as his idols.

Duterte once called Putin his “favorite hero” and changed his negative view of Kim in April when the latter agreed with rival South Korea to pursue denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean peninsula.

The President, however, could not hide his disdain for Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, whose administration had been critical of the Philippines’ war on drugs that has claimed the lives of over 4,400 people, based on government figures, since Duterte assumed office in June 2016.

“You have no right to do that. If you have something against me, go to the United Nations and file a case. Why do you have to blurt it out in the open in a press briefing? I am not a county, or a mayor here or a janitor of White House. You do not do it to us,” Duterte said, two days after he issued a public apology to Obama for calling the former US president a “son of a bitch” who “can go to hell” in 2016.

In contrast, Trump had praised Duterte for doing an “unbelievable” job on addressing the drug menace.

Duterte in July said his trip to the US, upon the invitation of Trump, is just a question of scheduling even as he admitted that he can no longer endure long haul flights.

Duterte and Trump first met during Manila’s  hosting of the ASEAN summit in Manila in  November last year. — MDM, GMA News