Yasay offers insight to Duterte presidencyIn his first policy address in the United States, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay spoke about President Rodrigo Duterte, whose “leadership style has been the subject of considerable news coverage these days,” and shared an insight to his presidency. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva) | (mb.com.ph) MB FILE – Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay speaks during a meeting of the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Vientiane, Laos July 25, 2016. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva) | (mb.com.ph)In his remarks delivered before the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC Friday Manila time, Secretary Yasay described President Duterte, with whom he said he shared a room in a Youth Center dormitory while they were still students, as a “man of uncommon courage, a leader governed by fundamental principles of truth telling, justice, fair play and compassion.”According to Yasay, Duterte comes across as “fearless, with a strong language, has a heart for the downtrodden and the poor.”“His character is marked by that rare quality of integrity and honesty,” the foreign affairs chief told a room full of American foreign affairs experts. “Some may think of him as unconventional–and that is because he hates double talk.”Yasay said President Duterte brings to the presidency his experience as a trial prosecutor for ten years and as a seven-term as mayor of Davao City.

Source: Manila Bulletin September 16, 2016 09:27 UTC