President Rodrigo Duterte’s calling former US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg “gay” and “son of a bitch” may strain the relationship between the two countries, Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said on Sunday.
“So we have to prepare for it,” Pimentel said in an interview over radio dwIZ.
“But I hope it will not. It’s just a small thing,” stressed Pimentel .
In the first place, the senator said it was Goldberg who sniped first at Duterte, then a presidential candidate during the campaign period, by issuing a statement on the rape-slay of a missionary that got the President’s goat.
Goldberg strongly reacted to Duterte’s pronouncements, saying “statements by anyone, anywhere that either degrade women or trivialize issues so serious as rape or murder are not ones that we condone.”
This remark did not sit well with Duterte who said that the US diplomat should have just “shut up.” He said he doesn’t care if the US cuts diplomatic ties with the Philippines.
Taking up the cudgels for Duterte, a partymate at PDP-Laban, Pimentel said it should be the US envoy who should first apologize.
The number one rule there was “you shut up,” Pimentel told Golberg. He reminded Goldberg that he is a foreigner and then a diplomat of a powerful nafion.
The US Embassy came to the defense of Goldbert last week. “We’ve seen those inappropriate comments made about Ambassador Goldberg. He’s a multi-time ambassador, one of our most senior diplomats,” said US State Department Spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau.
The President has maintained he won’t apologize to Goldberg after calling the diplomat “gay.”
According to Duterte, Goldberg didn’t apologize to him when they met in Malacañang.
