'Long live Mr Trump! We are alike,' says Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte

Mr Duterte, who once told Barack Obama to 'go to hell', wants to stop quarrelling with the US

The President of the Philippines has said he and Donald Trump are “alike” as they both love to swear.

Rodrigo Duterte congratulated Donald Trump on his election victory during a visit to Malaysia on Wednesday.

“Long live Mr Trump! We both curse at the slightest reason. We are alike,” he said.

"We both make curses. Even with trivial matters we curse."

Mr Duterte, who is prone to sudden outbursts and profanities, said he wishes to stop quarrelling with the United States.

He previously told President Barack Obama to “go to hell” and has repeatedly hit out at Washington in recent months, threatening to cut defence pacts and end military joint drills.

The Filipino President has also criticised US officials for expressing concern about his brutal crackdown on illegal drug sellers and users.

But today he said: "I don't want to quarrel anymore, because Trump has won."

Mr Duterte won a May election by a huge margin and is often compared with President-elect Trump, having himself been the alternative candidate from outside of national politics.

He campaigned on a populist, anti-establishment platform and struck a chord among ordinary Filipinos with his promises to fix what he called a broken country.

When elected, he pledged to bring back the death penalty and shoot to kill powers to the Philippines.

One of the biggest surprises of Mr Duterte's presidency so far has been his hostility toward the United States, shown during near-daily eruptions of anger over its concerns about human rights abuses during his deadly war on drugs.

He told Filipinos how angry he had been at Washington, saying it had threatened to cut off aid and had treated the Philippines like a dog tied to a post.

“They talk as if we are still the colonies,” he said.

Last month President-elect Trump told Reuters the Philippines was a very important strategic location and that Mr Duterte's comments about removing foreign troops showed “a lack of respect for our country.”

Teddy Locsin Jr, Mr Duterte's incoming ambassador to the United Nations, said there were a few parallels between Trump, who stunned the world by defeating rival Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's presidential election, and Mr Duterte.

“I remember Trump in the middle of one of his statements, he said 'I will not talk like this after I become president',” Mr Locsin said on TV. “I remember someone who also said the same thing.”

In 2015, Mr Duterte was forced to apologise after he was accused of referring to Pope Francis as a “son of a whore” when a papal visit to the Philippines caused traffic jams, according to Time magazine.