Duterte Skips Summit Meets Because of Migraine

US President Barack Obama and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte shook hands and had a brief chat on Wednesday, officials said, easing a standoff after Duterte called Obama a “son of a bitch” ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos.

A day after he regretted his “strong comments” against US President Barack Obama, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte launched another unexpected tirade against the United States that reportedly left a roomful of leaders and senior officials attending the East Asia Summit “quiet and shocked”.

The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of the deepening partnership between the U.S. and India and the value of their shared engagement in the region, including through the East Asia Summit, the official said.

“They were the last persons to leave the holding room”, the Philippine foreign secretary Perfecto Yasay said, insisting that the countries’ relationship was “firm, very strong”.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters late Tuesday that attention to Duterte’s statements took focus away from the “very substantive agenda” between the United States and the Philippines and did not make for a constructive environment for a meeting.

Trump has blasted Obama’s policy toward China as weak and said the president was humiliated by the Chinese during his visit to Asia this week.

US and Philippines officials have said the bilateral meeting could potentially be rescheduled before Obama leaves office, such as at the U.N. General Assembly in NY later this month. “You must be respectful”.

When asked whether Duterte had stolen the limelight at the Asean Summit, the prime minister said it would depend on how people viewed the matter.

On the day he was sworn into office, on June 30, Mr Duterte urged people living in a Manila slum to kill drug addicts in their community.

On Tuesday Mr Obama cancelled planned talks after the firebrand Mr Duterte called him the “son of a whore”.

Andanar was unaware if Duterte’s absence in the meetings had anything to do with a reported miscarriage suffered by his daughter, the mayor of their southern Philippine city of Davao.

The tough-talking president has also blasted United Nations -appointed human rights experts and rights watchdogs who have expressed concerns over the extrajudicial killings of more than 2,800 suspected drug dealers and users since Duterte took office.

It was on that matter that Duterte told reporters in the Philippines that he would not stand to be lectured by Obama over legal due process concerns during their scheduled meetings.

“I continue to believe that Guantanamo is a recruitment tool for terrorist organizations, that it clouds and sours some of the counter-terrorism cooperation we need to engage in”, Obama said. “Damn it [putang ina] I will curse you in that forum”.

“He has to experience it”, he said.

“You actually have to know what you are talking about and you actually have to have done your homework”, Obama said Thursday.

“The most important thing for the public and the press is to just listen to what he says and follow up and ask questions to what appear to be either contradictory or uninformed or outright wacky ideas”, Obama said.