Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed regret over his “son of a bitch” remark while referring to President Barack Obama.
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In a statement read by his spokesman, he said his “strong comments” that were made in response to a reporter’s question “elicited concern and distress”.
During a press conference Monday, before he left for a regional conference in Laos – which Obama is also attending – Duterte warned the US president not to bring up the matter of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines that have been carried out as part of Duterte’s war on drugs.
This year’s edition was launched with a spectacular fallout between the United States and the Philippines, longtime allies that have seen relations plunge under a barrage of insults from Duterte since he came to office on June 30. But the White House later said Obama had canceled a planned meeting with Duterte and would instead hold talks with South Korea’s leader.
Duterte said he would demand that Obama allow him to first explain the context of his crackdown before engaging the US president in a discussion about the deaths.
The Philippine president later expressed regret in a statement issued in the Laotian capital, Vientiane.
The freaky rift with the leader of a USA treaty ally was the most glaring example of how Mr Obama has frequently found himself bound to foreign countries and leaders whose ties to the United States are critical even if their values sharply diverge.
Using the Tagalog phrase for “son of a bitch”, he said: “Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum”.
Obama arrived in Vientiane on Monday evening after participating in the G20 Summit in China’s city of Hangzhou.
It was not immediately known if the bilateral meeting between the two president would be rescheduled.
Later, on Monday afternoon, the White House announced the meeting was canceled.
The unusually open tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony and long-term ally, threaten to overshadow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits in Laos from Tuesday to Thursday.
During the same press conference, Mr Duterte told journalists: “Plenty of drug dealers will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets”.
Moving quickly to soothe the tensions with Washington, Duterte said in a separate statement that he remained committed to Manila’s alliance with the United States. He has defended the killings, saying he is following the will of those who elected him.
The setback in US-Philippine relations comes at a crucial time in the region, with China seeking to cement control over the contested South China Sea. Duterte has earlier cursed the pope and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Obama notes at his news conference before leaving China that he will be the first USA president to visit the southeast Asian country.
Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival territorial claims to the sea.
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He has also taken on a more conciliatory position with USA rival China.
