Earlier on Monday, Philippines’ president called Barack Obama a “son of a whore” as he lambasted at USA leader for lecturing him on human rights when they meet in Laos.
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Phillippine President Rodrigo Duterte has admitted he “regrets” calling US President Barack Obama a “son of a b***h”, or what also translates in Tagalog as “son of a w***e”.
But on Tuesday, in a statement read by his spokesman, Duterte expressed regret that his comments “came across as a personal attack” on the USA president.
Obama and Duterte were expected to meet this week in Laos, with both leaders attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Duterte has had a troublesome relation with the United States, questioning its inability to stop genocidal killings in the Middle East and Africa, and citing USA police shootings of black Americans that have set off protests.
Last week, Duterte said he was ready to defend his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which has sparked concern from the USA and other countries.
Duterte promised to wipe out drugs, drug dealers and suppress crime after winning the presidency back in May.
Mr Duterte said both sides mutually agreed to postpone the meeting.
He has defended the killings, saying he is following the will of those who elected him.
“More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets”, he said. White House officials previously said Obama would confront the Philippines president about his country’s handling of drug dealers, including extra-judicial killings, or government executions without the benefit of judicial proceedings or due process.
In May, he called Pope Francis a “son of a whore”, although he later apologised, and called U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg a “gay son of a whore”. He is also scheduled to take part in the East Asia Summit and speak at a forum with young people.
He has also threatened to withdraw from the United Nations, after human rights experts said his order for police and the public to kill suspected drug traffickers was tantamount to “incitement to violence and killing, a crime under global law”.
On Tuesday, Duterte met the leaders of Singapore, Japan and Vietnam.
Duterte responded: “Maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations”.
Duterte criticized Obama in the wake of reports Washington wanted to discuss human rights violations in the country. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually.
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The Philippines, which has overlapping claims with China to islands and atolls in the sea, won an worldwide ruling against Beijing in July. Instead, he’ll will meet with South Korean President Park Geun Hye, Price said in a statement.
