Obama Cancels Meeting After Philippines President’s Tirade Against Him

Davao (Philippines): Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called Barack Obama a “son of a w****” on Monday as he vowed not to be lectured by the US leader on human rights when they meet in Laos.

Duterte bristled at warnings he would face questioning by the US president over a crime war in the Philippines that has claimed more than 2,400 lives in just over two months. “You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a w****, I will curse you in that forum,” Duterte told a news conference shortly before flying to Laos to attend the summit. “We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me,” he said.

Duterte has angrily rejected criticism from the Catholic Church, human rights groups, legislators and the United Nations. Duterte vowed that the bloodbath would continue as he pursued his goal of eradicating illegal drugs in the Philippines. In this regard, he warned President Obama against lecturing him about human rights violations at their scheduled meeting. However, the meeting was cancelled by Obama after Duterte’s tirade.

Duterte was due to hold a bilateral meeting with Obama on Tuesday on the sidelines of a summit of global leaders hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vientiane, the Lao capital. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama called off a planned meeting with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from a US ally’s leader during a diplomatic tour that’s put Obama in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the meeting with Duterte was off. Obama had said he planned to raise the issue in his first meeting with Duterte, but the Philippine leader insisted he was only listening to his own country’s people.

Duterte has been under intense global scrutiny over the more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers and users killed since he took office. Duterte was elected in May after a promise to wage an unprecedented war on illegal drugs that would see tens of thousands of suspects killed. Official figures released Sunday show that, since Duterte took office on June 30, over 2,400 people have been killed in police anti-drug operations and by suspected vigilantes. Duterte has angrily rejected criticism from the Catholic Church, human rights groups, legislators and the United Nations. Duterte vowed Monday the bloodbath would continue as he pursued his goal of eradicating illegal drugs in the Philippines. More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. “Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed, we will continue and I will continue,” he said.

Duterte insisted he would not take orders from the United States, a former colonial ruler of the Philippines, and did not care about how he was perceived. “I don’t give a s*** about anybody observing my behaviour,” he said. Duterte also used vulgar language to accuse his domestic critics of wanting to please the United States.

AFP, PTI, AP