Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said that the United States President-elect Donald Trump had supported and endorsed his violent campaign against drugs in the nation and said that Philippines was conducting the antidrug campaign "the right way."
Duterte has been embroiled in controversies ever since he took the Philippines' presidential seat in June. He has encouraged citizens in Philippines to bring drug peddlers to justice in the country as part of his crackdown on suspected drug dealers and users. Reports state that over 2,800 people have been killed in this crackdown so far.
Duterte reportedly spoke with Trump on Friday over the telephone and the Filipino leader said that Trump was "quite sensitive to our worry about drugs. He wishes me well, too, in my campaign, and he said that, well, we are doing it as a sovereign nation, the right way."
Trump's office did not provide an immediate response about the phone call and the nature of the conversation between the two leaders.
Duterte's antidrug campaign has been widely criticised by various countries and global rights organisations, including the United States, the United Nations and the European Union. The rights organisations have deemed the killings in Philippines under the antidrug campaigns as extrajudicial killings.
Earlier this year, Duterte rejected United States' criticism of the nature of the campaign and had reportedly called the United States President Barack Obama a "son of a whore."
Duterte's office released a summary about the nature of their conversation, in which the Philippines leader said, "I could sense a good rapport, an animated President-elect Trump. And he was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem."
"He understood the way we are handling it, and I said that there's nothing wrong in protecting a country. It was a bit very encouraging in the sense that I supposed that what he really wanted to say was that we would be the last to interfere in the affairs of your own country."
