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Duterte Feels ‘Like A Saint’ After Speaking With Trump [VIDEO]

REUTERS/Erik De Castro

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Ryan Pickrell China/Asia Pacific Reporter
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The president of the Philippines regaled an audience Wednesday with the story of his Dec. 2 phone conversation with President-elect Donald Trump.

President Rodrigo Duterte recalled the call while speaking at a U.N. Convention Against Corruption conference at the Malacañang presidential palace.

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“‘Oh, President Duterte, we should fix our bad relations,'” Duterte said, quoting Trump. “‘You’re doing great. I know what’s your worry about these Americans criticizing you. You are doing good. Go ahead.'”

“‘Oh yes, when you come to Washington D.C. or New York City, look me up and we’ll have coffee,'” Duterte continued, “‘Maybe you can give me a suggestion, one or two, how to solve this goddamn bulls … son of a bitch.'”

“If you listen to Trump talk to me, I have become like a saint,” Duterte told the crowd.

Duterte has clashed with the Obama administration over the American president’s repeated criticisms of the shoot-to-kill drug war that has left around 4,500 dead in the Philippines.

Many deaths in the war on drugs appear to be extrajudicial killings and summary executions. Some are said to be carried out by police, others by vigilantes.

“There is a new way of dying in the Philippines,” Redentor C. Ulsano, the police superintendent in the Tondo district, told New York Times reporters.

“They are slaughtering us like animals,” one Filipino citizen told the NYT.

Duterte has been accused of protecting rogue police officers and encouraging regular Filipinos to engage in violence.

The Filipino president claims Trump supports his drug war.

“[Trump] was quite sensitive also to our worry about drugs. And he wishes me well … in my campaign and he said that … we are doing it as a sovereign nation, the right way,” Duterte explained in a statement Saturday.

The president of the Philippines seems to have a positive view of Trump; however, it is unclear what stance Trump will take on the Philippines once he takes office.

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