“As despicable as these [crime] networks may be and as much damage as they do, it is important, from our perspective, to make sure that we do it in the right way”, Obama said in Vientiane, Laos’ capital, while attending an ASEAN summit.
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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.
“Ang sinabi ko, huwag akong bastusin”, Duterte said, reacting to information that human rights and alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines might be tackled during his meeting with Obama.
“There is this process that seems to take place over the course of the election season where somehow behavior that in normal times we consider completely unacceptable and outrageous becomes normalized and people think we ought to be grading on a curve” said Obama. He further confirmed that his team will be meeting with Durterte soon to discuss how the can move forward with varying issues.
Duterte referred to Pope Francis as putang ina (“son of a whore”) in May but, unlike in Obama’s case, apologized to the pope for the insult.
The presidency is a “serious business” requiring knowledge, preparation and policies thought through to be implemented, Obama said, reiterating his support for Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton.
The whole room was silent and he waited for Obama to respond but he remained quiet, Duterte said.
The start of the trip was overshadowed by tense moments on the tarmac when Chinese officials clashed with White House aides and appeared to have failed to secure a staircase for Obama’s plane – moments that exploded on social media.
He made his narration during his speech on Friday afternoon in front of the Filipino community in Jakarta, Indonesia. “Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum”, Duterte said.
“The man has very strong control over a country”, Trump said during a town hall meeting hosted by NBC News. “Check it out. Check it out”, Duterte recalled telling Obama in a holding room.
Since gaining power in June, Mr Duterte has engaged in a bloody war on drugs, which has seen around 2,400 people killed by hit squads, drawing worldwide criticism.
The real estate mogul also said that he expected to “get along” with Putin if elected president.
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China is among the countries taking part in Thursday’s summit, which includes the 10 Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) member states and Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the US. “He told me, ‘we can talk some more at another time'”.
