MANILA - The country's business process outsourcing (BPO) industry said Saturday it was seeking an audience with President Rodrigo Duterte to discuss their concerns as he increasingly distances the country from the United States.

Duterte said he would work for a "separation" of the country's foreign policy from Washington, its long time ally, as he seeks closer ties with China, the US' rival in the Pacific.

The IT-BPO Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) "formally reached out to the Office of the President to secure an audience with him and directly discuss our industry’s asks from government," the group said in a statement.

The organization is made up of 326 companies and comprises about 90 percent of the industry's 1.2 million direct-hired employees. Several American firms outsource operations in the Philippines, where labor is cheaper, including Sykes and Xerox.

Duterte's announcement of a "separation" from the US, while on a four-day state visit to China, capped weeks of verbal attacks on the US for criticizing his bloody war on drugs.

He has threatened to curse at US President Barack Obama, forcing the cancellation of their planned meeting in Laos in September, and ordered a stop to joint sea patrols between Filipino and American troops.

The President's rhetoric has caused some "jitters" among the outsourcing industry's clients, IBPAP Executive Director Genny Inocencio-Marcial said earlier.