Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte told U.S. president Barack Obama he never called him a “son of a bitch”, he said on Friday (Sept 9), but he maintained a defiant stance on his war on drugs, saying United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon was a fool for bringing up human rights.
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“They met at the holding room and they were the last persons to leave the holding room”.
“I’m very happy that it happened”, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay said of the short meeting.
According to police statistics, 1,011 suspected drug users and dealers have been killed in police operations between July 1 and Sept 4.
Ahead of what would have been their first meeting, Duterte anticipated that Obama would press him on violent crackdowns on narcotics trafficking in the Philippines as well as charges of extrajudicial killings.
Rhodes insisted the US-Philippines alliance remained “rock solid”. “I think it seems to be just a habit, a way of speaking for him”, Obama said.
Obama said both of their governments should work together to advance relations between their two countries.
Duterte declared in an interview that he would curse Obama if he dared to bring up the matters in their private encounter. “People start thinking that we should be grading on a curve. but I can tell you from the interactions I have had over the last eight or nine days with foreign leaders that this is serious business”.
The Filipino leader later expressed regret over the remarks, but not before Mr Obama had cancelled a planned meeting. “Why now we are talking about human rights”.
At the dinner, Obama was seated six seats to the right of Duterte and directly next to the Sultan of Brunei and chatted with him as reporters were briefly allowed in.
Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao issued staunch support for Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Thu, Sep 8, after the Asian strongman clashed with United States leader Barack Obama over the country’s bloody crime crackdown.
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After cursing at the president, Duterte expressed a degree of regret, stating that he did not intend his comments as a “personal attack on the USA president”. He said it was a mutually agreed meeting, although he didn’t have details of what was discussed.
