MANILA (UPDATE)-- President Rodrigo Duterte praised Friday Filipinos' adherence to the law as he expressed dismay over the mass protests in the United States.

Duterte, in a public address, said he is thankful that there are no riots in the Philippines like the ones occurring in some American cities.

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"There’s a riot going on all over and it seems to me that is no end in sight. Mabuti na lang hindi tayo ganun at natimingan naman that the Filipinos are really law-abiding," he said.

(It's a good thing that we are not like that and the timing comes that Filipinos are really law-abiding.)

"Imagine if Amerika ‘to, how can you enforce the lockdown and the sequestration --- ah itong quarantine? Buti’t na lang ganun ‘yon so we have to respond to the problem besetting the distribution of assistance to them," he added.

Protests have been going on in the US for days, sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a black man who suffocated beneath the knee of a white police officer, and whose agonizing death was filmed by bystanders.

Experts have raised caution and fear that demonstrations roiling the US could reignite the spread of the coronavirus.

• Corrosive effects of tear gas could intensify coronavirus pandemic

The demonstrations have mostly been peaceful, but some have degenerated into violence and looting in some American cities.

• US protesters risk COVID-19 'for health of nation'
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-with a report from Agence France-Presse