“Mr. Obama must have found out for himself how amiable President Duterte is, one thing that I’ve known personally for many years in Davao City”, Teo said.
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Obama, making the first US presidential visit to Laos, a nation secretly bombed by the US during the Vietnam War, also said US Republican party candidate Donald Trump showed that he was unfit to become president “every time he speaks”.
“But”, he added, “I can tell you from the interactions I’ve had over the last eight or nine days with foreign leaders, that this is serious business”. “When you speak, it should actually reflect thought out policy you can implement”.
Obama laughed off the idea he needed to defend himself against Trump’s assertion that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a stronger leader.
“When I think back to the time I spent here as a boy, I can’t help but be struck by the extraordinary progress that’s been made by the region in the decades since, even if there’s still a lot of work to be done”, Mr Obama said.
Mr. Duterte’s drive has won popular support at home, but the killings have drawn expressions of concern from the United States, a close Philippine ally, and the United Nations.
Duterte set the tone for the week when, just before flying to Laos on Monday, he launched a barrage of insults at Obama in response to the USA president’s plans to question him over his war on drugs.
“I think it’s just a habit, a way of speaking for him”, Obama concluded.
“I hope they realised it by now”, he said without elaborating, adding, “I do not have an obligation to please everybody or to please some person”.
In a short statement, the White House only said that “Obama had a brief discussion with President Duterte before the ASEAN Gala Dinner in the leaders’ hold space”.
Channapha Khamvongsa: After War, A New Legacy of Peace in Laos: President Obama became the first US president to visit Laos, where he discussed his work to address a legacy of war in the country.
Duterte had said he’d potentially swear at and challenge his US counterpart if Obama questioned him over his violent war against illegal drugs that has seen more than 2,400 suspects killed since the Philippine leader came to power.
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But before the ASEAN Summit, Duterte was surrounded be controversy for making “inappropriate remarks” against United States President Barack Obama.
