Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte derided U.S. ambassadors as âspiesâ on Thursday, responding to a media report of an alleged American plot to destabilize his government, a job he said some envoys were appointed solely to do.
The volatile former mayor said though had received no intelligence reports of any U.S. plan to undermine his presidency, he believed most ambassadors were in cahoots with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which had a track record of meddling in other countriesâ affairs.
The Manila Times newspaper on Tuesday reported a former U.S. ambassador to the Philippines had prepared a âblueprint to undermine Duterteâ, citing a document it had received from a what it described as a âhighly placed sourceâ. (bit.ly/2hhzEGk)
The U.S. State Department has described the allegations as âfalseâ.
âMost of the ambassadors of the United States, but not all, are not really professional ambassadors. At the same time they are spying, they are connected with the CIA,â Duterte said in a television interview.
âThe ambassador of a country is the number one spy. But there are ambassador of the U.S., their forte is really to undermine governments.â
Duterte has made no secret of his grudge against the United States and has a particular disdain for President Barack Obama, who he has told to âgo to hellâ, mostly over Obamaâs concern s about Duterteâs deadly drugs war.
He has made repeated threats to abrogate security treaties with the United States and vented almost daily about U.S. âhypocrisyâ and âbullyingâ.
On Thursday, Duterte said he would honor those treaties and that he liked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and was keenly waiting for him to take office.
The Manila Times said Philip Goldberg, who recently ended his term as ambassador in Manila, had outlined various strategies over an 18-month period to destabilize Duterte.
That would include supporting the opposition and co-opting the media, the military, neighboring countries and senior government officials to turn against Duterte and isolate him economically.
Duterte has a dislike for Goldberg and has previously called him a âgay son of a bitchâ. He referred to him in three successive live television interviews on Thursday, calling him Washingtonâs âsuperstarâ with a track record of trying to undermine governments.
Goldberg was expelled as ambassador to Bolivia in 2008 by then President Evo Morales, who accused him of siding with his rightist opponents and of orchestrating street protests.
The United States rejected that and said his expulsion was a âgrave errorâ.
âMaybe he will deny it but itâs not good,â Duterte said of Goldbergâs alleged blueprint, which he said was plausible because of Goldbergâs history.
