The Philippines scrambled yesterday to mend fences with its oldest ally, the United States, with President Rodrigo Duterte saying that he regrets directing an expletive at US President Barack Obama over the American leader’s concerns about his war on crime.
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Duterte quickly expressed regrets that his comments inadvertently “came across as a personal attack on the US president”, according to a statement read by his spokesman.
“Who does he think he is?”
I asked her about the hard history between the US and Laos.
In his typical foul-mouthed style, Duterte responded: “I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony”.
Speaking to a reporter, the president also exclaimed “putang ina” – a Tagalog phrase that roughly translates to “son of a whore”, but is often used in a manner equivalent to “crap” or “shit” in a manner similar to the Spanish phrase hijo de puta.
The rant against Obama prompted the White House to cancel planned bilateral talks between the two leaders in Laos this week even though in a statement through his spokesman he regretted the rant and pointed out what triggered it.
Duterte’s camp said that his meeting with the United States leader was “mutually agreed upon” to be moved to a “later date”. It was Mr Duterte’s predecessor Benigno Aquino III who brought a case to an global tribunal in The Hague which found against Beijing’s actions. Obama vowed to work with the United Nations to tighten sanctions against Pyongyang, but said the door wasn’t closed to a more functional relationship.
“We do not condone these acts”, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said.
Obama said the latest round of ballistic missile launches were “provocations” that flouted worldwide law and would only lead to further isolation.
Duterte is scrambling to smooth things over with the US, a longtime ally.
“So … people who live in glass houses should not throw stones”, Duterte said, the Associated Press reported. “The Philippines is not a vassal state”, he said.
Yesterday, he announced that Washington would provide an additional US$90 million over the next three years to help Laos, heavily bombed during the Vietnam War, clear unexploded ordnance, which has killed or wounded more than 20,000 people.
“Who is he?” Duterte questioned.
“(The) government is here to save our people from the drug menace and punish the offenders, including the big-time ones. At issue are the estimated 2,400 killings committed by police and vigilantes since Duterte was inaugurated June 30, according to National Police figures.
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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.
