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HINDI pinag-usapan ang paglulunsad ng joint US-PH air strike sa Marawi City nang magharap sina Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte at US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sa Palasyo, kamakalawa ng gabi.
Kinompirma nina Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana at National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Jr., hindi tinalakay sa pulong nina Duterte at Tillerson ang napaulat na humirit ang Pangulo ng ayudang air strike kay Uncle Sam.
“Per Secretary Lorenzana and National Security Adviser Esperon that matter of air strike has not been discussed by the two countries, nor is there a request from the Philippine government,” ayon sa text message ni Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo sa mga mamamahayag kahapon.
Ibinalita ng foreign media, ikinokonsidera ng Pentagon ang plano na payagan ang US military na maglunsad ng air strikes laban sa Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) sa Filipinas, gamit ang armed drones.
Ipinagmalaki ni Pentagon spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis, 15 taon na ang “counter-terror presence” ng US sa bansa.
Sa kanyang pagbisita sa bansa, inihayag ni Tillerson na kasama sa ayudang ipinagkaloob ng US sa Filipinas sa kampanya kontra-ISIS ang pagbibigay ng ilang Cessnas at UAVs (drones).
“We’re providing them some training and some guidance in terms of how to deal with an enemy that fights in ways that are not like most people have ever had to deal with. I see no conflict at all in our helping them with that situation and our views of other human rights concerns we have with respect to how they carry out their counter-narcotics activities,” ani Tillerson.
(ROSE NOVENARIO)
