U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, left, glances at Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, right, at the start of 11th East Asia Summit on the last day of the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and other related summits at the National Convention Center Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016 in Vientiane, Laos.
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“It’s not son of a whore”, he told an audience of Filipinos during a visit to the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
In July, an global arbitration case brought and won by Manila ruled that China’s building of numerous artificial islands was illegal and its claims to most of the South China Sea had no legal basis.
He also shared with fellow Filipinos in Indonesia his previous speech delivered to the leaders of 18-nation East Asia group, that included Obama, back in Laos.
Mr Duterte blamed the media for distorting his words, saying he did utter “son of a bitch”, but it was not directed at Mr Obama.
Duterte, who assumed the presidency in June, has had an uneasy relationship with the USA, his country’s longtime treaty ally.
Donald Trump said at last night’s “Commander-in-Chief” forum on foreign policy that President Obama’s arrogant ignoring of intelligence has reduced the US general staff to “rubble”.
“I got really angry about these threats over this human rights issue”.
Duterte has said the Philippines is in danger of becoming a “narco state”, and eliminating drugs in society is the top priority of his administrations.
“You must be respectful”. Do not just throw questions and statements.
“Thank you for the hospitality, Laos, and I am confident that we will grow stronger economically and advance together with other member nations as one integrated community”.
Obama and Duterte made some steps towards clearing the air late on Wednesday, chatting briefly, and exchanging pleasantries as they prepared to take their seats at a leaders’ dinner.
Relations between long time allies the USA and the Philippines saw a spectacular setback this week after firebrand politician Duterte branded Obama a “son of a whore”.
He has said he is charting a foreign policy not dependent on the USA, and has moved to reduce tensions with China over rival territorial claims. Obama went around shaking hands with all the leaders present at the final summit meeting in Vientiane, Laos, but avoided Duterte.
The photograph showed about 200 dead Filipino Moros stacked in a common pit, with an American soldier holding a rifle while stepping on the breasts of a naked Moro woman. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said the president provided an explanation of how human rights records should be assessed in the context of the historical record.
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Whether the meeting would in fact take place remained ambiguous after Duterte lashed out at Obama for daring to question his possible human rights violations.
