Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned President Barack Obama yesterday not to question him about extrajudicial killings, or “son of a bitch I will swear at you” when they meet in Laos during a regional summit.
Duterte said before flying to Laos that he is a leader of a sovereign country and is answerable only to the Filipino people. He was answering a reporter’s question about how he intends to explain the extrajudicial killings to Obama. More than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30.
In his typical foul-mouthed style, Duterte responded: “I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum,” he said, using the Tagalog phrase for son of a bitch.
Duterte has earlier cursed the pope and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
It isn’t clear whether Obama plans to raise the issue of extrajudicial killings with Duterte during a meeting on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“Who is he to confront me?” Duterte said, adding that the Philippines had not received an apology for misdeeds committed during the U.S. colonization of the Philippines.
He pointed to the killing of Muslim Moros more than a century ago during a U.S. pacification campaign in the southern Philippines, blaming the wounds of the past as “the reason why [the south] continues to boil” with separatist insurgencies.
Duterte also pointed to human rights problems in the United States.
Last week, Duterte said he was ready to defend his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which has sparked concern from the U.S. and other countries.
Duterte said he would demand that Obama allow him to first explain the context of his crackdown before engaging the U.S. president in a discussion of the deaths.
The White House had no immediate reaction to Duterte’s comments. Obama has been attending a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Hangzhou, China. MDT/AP
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he addresses Overseas Filipino Workers who were repatriated back to the country at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, on August 31
Duterte’s history of harsh language
Duterte’s warning to Obama is the latest irreverent utterance from a politician who has disparaged the pope and others who controvert his worldview. Some of the memorable broadsides on Duterte’s growing list of them:
ON THE UNITED NATIONS
“Maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you’re that rude, son of a bitch, we’ll just leave you. So take us out of your organization, you have done nothing here anyway.”
ON U.S. AID AND DIPLOMATS
“We were talking to [U.S. Secretary of State John] Kerry, he’s OK but I had a feud with his gay ambassador. Son of a bitch, I’m annoyed with that guy. He meddled in the elections, giving statements here and there.”
ON A SLAIN MISSIONARY
“I looked at her face, son of a bitch, she looks like a beautiful actress in America. Son of a bitch, what a waste. What came to mind was, they raped her, they lined up on her there. I was angry because she was raped, that’s one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first. What a waste.”
ON THE POPE’S VISIT
“I wanted to call him, ‘Pope, you son of a bitch, go home. Don’t visit here anymore’.”
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