Before travelling to Laos for regional summits, Mr Duterte said on Monday that Mr Obama should not question him about the rising death toll in his war on drugs, which has been criticised overseas and by Mr Duterte’s opponents in the Philippines.
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Relations saw a spectacular setback this week when Mr. Duterte branded Obama a “son of a bitch” after being told the United States president planned to raise concerns about his war on drugs.
While on a visit to Indonesia on Friday, Mr. Duterte told a group of Filipinos in a meeting at Shangri-La Jakarta hotel that the slur was not directed at Obama and that he told him so during a brief meeting before the Asean leaders’ gala dinner in Vientiane on Wednesday. “But it won’t hurt to have a popular President on our side”, the senator said. You must not just throw away questions. “Check it out. Check it out”, Duterte recalled telling Obama in a holding room.
On a visit to the Indonesian capital on Friday, Duterte told a group of Filipinos that the slur was not directed at the US president and that he had told him so.
Mr. Duterte has also repeatedly promised to protect police from prosecution if they are charged over the deaths and insisted human rights can not get in the way of his war.
“… I said that, but not in relation to Obama”, he was quoted as saying by the news agency.
He has also called the USA ambassador to Manila, Philip Goldberg, a “gay son of a bitch” and the United Nations “sons of bitches”.
“I don’t give a shit. Why?”
“I am a President of a sovereign state”. So what if my reputation is bad? I am the President of the Republic of the Philippines, not the republic of the worldwide community.
Adding to data from police in the Philippines, at least 2,000 people have died in drug-related killings since Duterte came to power in May.
“Even Ban Ki-moon weighed in”, he said. The Filipino President has insisted that although he never used those words to describe the US President, he does think the Ban Ki-Moon is a fool to bring up human rights violations in the Philippines.
He said he told the leaders, “This is human rights, what do you intend to do?” and “Human rights violations whether committed by Moses or Abraham, is still violation of human rights”. “I said, ‘You’re another fool'”.
Earlier in the year, Ban Ki-Moon condemned the extrajudicial killings under Duterte, noting that they were “illegal and a breach of fundamental rights and freedoms”.
“We agreed to work together to prevent, arrest and prosecute all those who seek to sow fear and terror in our societies”, he said.
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“I said there has to be a limit to one’s stupidity”, he said.
