Sotto: Duterte said Trump does not approve of Bato's US visa cancellation

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday said Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa's US visa cancellation in January did not sit well with US President Donald Trump.

In a virtual Kapihan sa Manila Bay, Sotto said President Rodrigo Duterte shared to him and other executive officials in a meeting a "few weeks ago" what the US President thought about it.

"Magkausap sila ni President Trump. Mayroong ginamit na word si President Trump eh. Di ko na uulitin pero sinabi ni Presidente [Duterte] sa amin: 'Those __ people from the State Department, sabi niya [Trump], they shouldn't have done that in the first place,'" Sotto said.

"Kaya 'di ako nagtataka na sinabihan si Senator Dela Rosa na puwede ibalik o i-renew 'yung visa niya because President Trump himself did not agree with what happened," he added.

However, the Senate chief said it was not disclosed by Duterte whether the willingness of the US government to restore Dela Rosa's visa was in any way connected to the suspension of the impending Visiting Forces Agreement abrogation.

"Ewan ko kung konektado kasi hindi binanggit ni Presidente," Sotto said.

Earlier in the day, Dela Rosa bared that the US Embassy in Manila called and notified him that he can fix his cancelled visa.

"To be honest with you, tinawagan ako ng US after nag-usap si President [Rodrigo] Duterte at President [Donald] Trump, tinawagan ako ng US embassy na asikasuhin itong visa ko," he said.

The senator, who was a former chief of the Philippine National Police during the pilot years of the administration's drug war, said he doesn't know if this development prompted the Philippine government to cancel the VFA termination.

Duterte's unilateral decision to terminate the military accord in February came on the heels of Dela Rosa's US visa cancellation.

Earlier reports said the senator’s visa was canceled because of his alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings. Dela Rosa, on the other hand, previously said that the US government could have been misinformed or misled by its informants. —AOL, GMA News