The most generous translation of Duterte’s remark argues that he is threatening to curse at Obama during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference, indicating that “putang ina” (“whore mother”) is being used as an interjection here, not a noun describing the President himself.
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Barack Obama arrived Monday night in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, becoming the first U.S. president to return to the scene of one of United States imperialism’s bloodiest crimes, even as his administration is preparing new wars on a far greater scale.
“While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the USA president”, he said.
As with most times Duterte says something so offensive that it requires a public apology, his office released a written statement to try to clear up the mess. Duterte’s statement said that both sides had “mutually agreed to postpone” it.
After Washington called off Tuesday’s bilateral meeting between Obama and Duterte in response, the Philippines issued two statements expressing regret.
“When the president of the Philippines insulted our president, it was appropriate and a very low-key way to say, ‘sorry, no meeting, ‘” she told reporters Tuesday, September 6. “I only am answerable to the Filipino people who elected me as president”. Duterte previously served as the city’s mayor for more than two decades.
Mr Duterte responded: “I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony”.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday voiced remorse for calling President Obama a “son of a b–h” the day before. He had been scheduled to meet Obama separately in Laos, but Obama indicated he had second thoughts, and the White House announced that the meeting had been canceled.
The attack on the leader of the Philippines’ most important ally underscored Duterte’s implacable stance against drugs.
“Nobody has a right to lecture me”, Duterte said.
In addition to the wave of violence, the nation has few drug rehabilitation centers capable of dealing with an influx of drug users hoping to get treatment since Duterte took office. Rights groups and politicians have routinely criticized him for his controversial statements, including saying he wanted to join in a gang rape of an Australian missionary and threatening mass killings of drug dealers. “Nobody but nobody. You must be respectful”. Do not just throw questions. He also boasts that it was United States military might in the Asia Pacific that ensured “peace” and underwrote the region’s massive economic expansion over the past 40 years.
He added that East Asia Summit is the premier forum for discussions on the challenges and opportunities before the Asia Pacific region.
An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China’s territorial claims after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling Beijing refuses to recognize.
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Former Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, under whose watch US-Philippine relations blossomed, expressed disappointment over the cancelled meeting with Mr Obama. After World War II, the commonwealth became independent.
