MANILA: philippine President Rodrigo defence yesterday he would respect treaties with"friends" and"ally the United States, but still wanted foreign troops to leave his country by the end of his term. Mr Duterte spared the United States one of his trademark verbal lashings and took a more conciliatory tone than usual although he hinted at revoking the 2014 Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agree ment(EDCA) that gives US troops rota tional access to Philippine bases. "We are friends, with an ally, we have military pact that would bind us," he told a pre-dawn news conference upon his return from a visit to Malaysia"We will maintain our cooperation and respect is there and in all matters between treaties we signed with them, so many agreements, we will honour all of these things