United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday visited President Rodrigo Duterte and received a warm welcome from him.
The move was seen as Washington fearing offending its long-time ally that could push it into the arms of US rival China.
The US is backing Philippine troops as they battle to recapture part of a southern region occupied by militants aligned to the Islamic State group.
“They did not,” Duterte replied when asked if US officials raised human rights during the discussions.
He said instead, they discussed “many things.”
Tillerson described the crisis in Marawi as a “tragic situation” and said US forces were providing surveillance aircraft and important advice for the Philippines’ forces in the battle there.
“Bringing our knowledge in how to deal with this enemy in other parts of the world is useful to them, and I think that is also in our security interests as well,” he told US journalists at his hotel.
“I see no conflict at all in our helping them with that situation, and our views on other human rights concerns that we have in how they carry out their counter-narcotics activities,” he added. (Agence France Presse)
