Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has lashed out at US President Barack Obama by labelling him a “son of a wh-re” as the Asian leader defended his government’s bloody crackdown on illegal drugs.
The foul-mouthed Duterte directed his comments toward the American president ahead of a meeting between the pair scheduled to take place in Laos in the coming days.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to AP, Mr Duterte reportedly lost his cool in a news conference shortly before flying to Laos after while he was warning Mr Obama not to question him about the more than 2400 lives that have been claimed just in the past two months due to the Philippines war on drugs.
“You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a wh*re, I will curse you in that forum,” Duterte said.
“We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me.”
According to CNN, Duterte went on to blame the US for causing the unrest on the southern Philippines Island of Mindanao.
“As a matter of fact, we inherited this problem from the United States,” he said. “Why? Because they invaded this country and made us their subjugated people. Everybody has a terrible record of extra-judicial killing. Why make an issue about fighting crime?”
When asked about the comments on Monday Mr Obama said that the meeting may not go forward.
“I always want to make sure if I’m having a meeting that it’s productive and we’re getting something done,” Obama said during a news conference.
“If and when we have a meeting, this is something that is going to be brought up,” Obama said, referring to the Philippines’ controversial method of tackling drug crime since Duterte took office earlier this year.
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