(Eagle News) — Several bilateral agreements were signed between the Philippines and Cambodia as President Rodrigo Duterte met with Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh on Wednesday (December 14) at the Peace Palace
The two leaders witnessed the signing of a series of memoranda of agreement on areas such as tourism, agriculture and cooperation on dealing with terrorism and drug trafficking, during President Duterte’s second day of his state visit in Cambodia.
PTV-4, the Philippine government television said this was the first time in 20 years that there were bilateral agreements that had been signed.
Among the agreements signed were in combatting transnational crimes, labor cooperation, sports cooperation and tourism
Duterte is on the second day of his visit to Cambodia.
During a speech to the Filipino community in Phnom Penh on Tuesday (December 13) Duterte said he might not “be around” until the end of his term citing health reasons.
The previous day he had told a gathering of business leaders in the Philippines that he suffered from back pains, migraines and Buerger’s disease, a cause of blockages in the blood vessels, associated with smoking during his youth.
Duterte, who will be 77 at the end of his six-year term in 2022, is the oldest person to be elected president in the Philippines since the post-war period.
He is scheduled to visit Singapore on Thursday (December 15) and Friday (December 16).
Duterte had told the business leaders on Monday that he had no fear of being removed from power or assassinated because of opposition to the rising death toll in his anti-drugs campaign.
He pointed out that the killings had been happening even before he was inaugurated as President on June 30, especially after the May elections when it had become clear that he won the presidency.
Observers said many of those killed then were members of drug syndicates who were silenced even before Duterte came in, so as they would not be able to squeal on the top-level tiers of those involved in drugs. That early, they said, they feared a government crackdown on illegal drug operators which was a campaign promise of Duterte.
(With a report from Reuters)