Obama didn’t take Duterte’s ‘son of a bitch’ comment personally

Duterte had referred to Obama by a Tagalog phrase that translates into “son of a bitch” or “son of a whore” during a conversation with reporters this week ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

Earlier this week Duterte said it would be “rude” for the president to discuss human rights abuses at the meeting, with Obama telling reporters their partnership was more concerned with suppressing the country’s battle on drugs.

After Obama canceled their bilateral meeting, Duterte said that he regretted that his comments “came across as a personal attack”.

Before the East Asia Summit – which brings together leaders from Japan, South Korea, China, Russia, India, Australia and New Zealand – Filipino Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar attributed Duterte’s absence to a headache.

“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.

Duterte has expressed a more conciliatory approach toward Beijing regarding the South China Sea dispute than his predecessor, Benigno Aquino, who lodged a complaint at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, and agreed to ramped-up USA troop and ship rotations at Philippine naval bases. It seems to be “a habit, a way of speaking for him”.

But the “excitement” over the supposed meeting of Mr. Duterte with Obama and Ban quickly dissipated and turned into disappointment as the three were seated separately during the gathering at the National Convention Center.

The two leaders interacted briefly on Wednesday night during a dinner for leaders gathered here in the Lao capital for a summit, but exchanged only “pleasantries”, according to a White House official.

Mr Duterte has branded Pope Francis, the U.S. ambassador to Manila and the United Nations as “sons of whores”.

Mr. Duterte had blasted Ban and the United Nations rapporteurs for speaking strongly against the surge in summary killings since he ordered a take-no-prisoners campaign against illegal drugs.

Duterte was elected to office in a landslide after pledging to kill 100,000 people in an unprecedented war on crime.

Since he took office on June 30, over 2,400 accused people have been killed, some left with handwritten notes saying “drug pusher” by their corpses.

The UN special rapporteur on summary executions has warned incitement to kill is a crime under worldwide law.

Despite growing condemnation of the comments and what rights groups say are rampant extrajudicial killings, Mr Duterte has vowed to continue.

However Duterte has remained unrepentant.

“More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets”, he said on Monday.