US senator who met with Trillanes wanted tracking of US-PH funding aid to stop drug war

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Antonio Trillanes, photo compiled from Google

US Senator Marco Rubio, who recently tweeted about his meeting with Senator Antonio Trillanes, was among the three US senators who asked for their state to track its funding aid to the Philippines, and make sure that such does not go to the government's war against illegal drugs.

The senator, along with Senators Edward Markey and Christopher Coons wrote a letter to the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Assistant Secretary William Brownfield.



In the letter, the senators called President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war, particularly the Tokhang Operations a "campaign of mass atrocities thinly disguised as a response to a public health emergency".

They noted how instead of addressing the issue, Duterte "pledged to kill another 20,000 to 30,000 people".

The letter was dated December 22, 2016.

It demanded from the agency a track record of where US money goes to.

"Duterte's drug campaign exhibits an abhorrent response to the public health crisis of drug addiction," the letter read.



It also asked what work will the United States do to stop the system of killings in the country.

Trillanes, a vocal Duterte critic, was confirmed to have met with Rubio, after the latter tweeted that they met and discussed measures to be taken to strengthen PH-US alliance and combat human rights violations.

"Senator Trillanes and I discussed US-Philippines alliance, combating corruption and protecting human rights amid the narcotics crisis," Rubio's tweet read.

As of writing, Trillanes has yet to comment on what the meeting was for.

Source: philstar.com