Last month, President Duterte said outright: America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) planned to assassinate him. He didn’t give any reason why the CIA would want to do so, but not a few analysts think it is because of his getting close to Russia, the US’ arch-enemy even after the Cold War ended in the 1990s. Indeed, the US even recently warned Duterte not to buy submarines that the Russians were offering.

Tiglao, R. D. (2018, September 14). South China Sea: Biggest reason for US to want to kill Duterte. The Manila Times, pp. A1, A6.