US senator confirms meeting with Trillanes

Senator Marco Rubio’s tweet

US Republican Senator Marco Rubio has confirmed his meeting with Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, saying they discussed the protection of human rights amid the country’s narcotics crisis.

In a Twitter post on Wednesday, Rubio, who previously criticized President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, said that aside from the drug war, they also discussed combating corruption and the alliance between US and the Philippines.

https://twitter.com/SenRubioPress/status/920398461345902597

Rubio was one of two legislators who earlier introduced a bill to restrict the supply of defense equipment to the Philippine National Police amid concerns on the drug killings in the country.

“America and the Philippines have an important and enduring alliance, which is why the growing number of extrajudicial killings as part of the Philippine National Police’s ‘war on drugs’ is deeply alarming,” the US senator had earlier said.

Commenting on Trillanes’ meeting with the US senator, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said he hopes Trillanes did not give biased information.

“We do hope the correct information has been given and not biased information designed to adversely affect US-Philippines relations,” Abella said in a press briefing.

“On whether the senator went to the US to ask some sectors to convince the US President not to visit (the Philippine), the Palace is not privy to that,” he added.

When asked about this, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III  said he knew of Trillanes’ trip but was not informed of the details.

US President Donald Trump is expected to attend the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit and Related Summits in November.