Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte pledged solidarity with Gulf countries in the fight against terrorism and said he was willing to send Filipino forces if needed.
“The Philippines is ready to stand by you,” he said in a speech in Doha on the last day of his five-day Gulf tour which also took him to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
“If you are short on manpower, I have a very disciplined military and I can send them here,” he said.
The Philippine leader said his country recognised the threat posed by Daesh-inspired groups and is willing to take steps to confront the radicals.
The Philippines had been fighting for nearly three decades the Abu Sayyaf, a group that espouses radical ideology as well as other radical groups like the Lanao-based Maute and the Islamist convert — Rajah Sulaiman Group.
The Philippines regularly contributes it forces to United Nations contingents.
Duterte’s National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said the Philippines could send troops abroad outside of the UN mandate, but mainly for training purposes.
Duterte did not specify the number of troops he would potentially contribute.
In Qatar, Duterte signed a slew of agreements in the fields of health, culture, and education.
Philippine ambassador Alan Timbayan said Qatar could recruit more Filipino skilled workers as the country builds its expanding infrastructure ahead of the Fifa World Cup in 2022.
Based on data from Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. the country is home to 222,721 Filipino workers, as of May 2016.
More than 3,000 Filipinos in Qatar work as professionals in the field of engineering, medicine, information technology, banking, teaching and science.
The rest are skilled workers such as laboratory technicians, cooks, chefs, carpenters, welders, and plumbers as well as household workers.
