The Philippine Territory

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Mayor Rodrigo Duterte revealed that the US government had asked his permission to use the city’s old airport as an operating base for its drone program.

“The US government wants to use the old airport. I refused. I will not allow them to use our airport for them to launch their drones,” Duterte said Monday during a gathering of some 150 Muslim volunteers who will help in securing the city.

Duterte also shared that when her daughter Sara Duterte was still the mayor, representatives of the US government had also tried to convince her to allow American forces to use the airport for its unmanned aerial vehicles in its campaign against terrorism and insurgency.


“I do not want it. I do not want trouble and killings,” Duterte said.
He said he told the US government there would be more bloodshed if there were drone operators in the city.
“They will only add to the problem,” Duterte said.

In 2011, Duterte said he believed the US was engaged in covert operations against Muslims in Davao City.
He mentioned the case of American Michael Meiring who was injured in an explosion in his hotel room in the city on May 16, 2002.

Investigations showed that the bomb which exploded belonged to Meiring.
While being treated in a hospital under tight security of local police forces, agents believed to be from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation smuggled Meiring out and transported him to the US via Singapore.

Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/83085/duterte-i-rejected-us-proposal-to-make-davao-city-base-for-drone-operations#ixzz2boNs353w