“I think it seems to be just a habit, a way of speaking for him”, Obama said.
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In a tirade before the Laos summit, Duterte insulted U.S. President Barack Obama and the White House responded by cancelling a two-way meeting.
He may have cursed a lot, but President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday clarified none of it was directed at U.S. President Barack Obama.
On Monday, hours before arriving in Laos, Duterte told Philippine reporters he wouldn’t accept questions from Obama about extrajudicial killings that have occurred during his crackdown on suspected drug dealers and users.
Obama said: “I don’t think the guy’s qualified to be president of the U.S. and every time he speaks, that opinion is confirmed”.
Duterte spoke after Obama had delivered a speech that referred to human rights.
President Obama’s remarks about the meeting were significantly more muted than the initial confirmation that the meeting occurred from Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay.
Obama has since declared that he does not take the Duterte’s slur “personally” and he looks forward to meeting the Philippine President another time.
Indeed, Obama had a “brief discussion” with Duterte on Wednesday in a private room where world leaders mingled outside the view of the press before they entered the gala, according to an Obama administration official.
Sep. 10: Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte emphasised on Saturday that Philippines will pursue an independent foreign policy “without any interference” from any country. “Check it out. Check it out”, Duterte recalled telling Obama in a holding room.
Duterte sparked a storm on the eve of an Asian summit this week when he appeared to label Obama a “son of a whore”, prompting the United States president to cancel a planned meeting. It all springs from the fact the relationship between the Philippines and the United States is firm, very strong.
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Since Duterte’s landslide election earlier this year, 3,000 people have been killed in an unprecedented war on crime in the Philippines. “Although statements of regret soon followed, such words and their worldwide policy also create investor concern”, it said.
