“PUTANG ina mumurahin kita diyan sa forum na iyan…(Son of a whore, I’ll curse you at that forum).”
These are just some of the toxic words spewed by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as a warning to U.S. President Barack Obama, when asked in a press meeting what he would do if Obama questions him about the extrajudicial killings and human rights violations in his war against drugs. His own words on the eve of his flight to Laos for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit include:
“Who does he think he is? I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people”
Duterte’s statements have been the subject of news headlines and commentaries all over the world. The recent comments add to the profanities he unleashed against Pope Francis and the U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines and his statement that the mayor (Duterte) should have been the first to rape this beautiful Australian missionary who was abducted, raped and killed in his territory.
“I have seen some of those colorful statements in the past, so clearly he is a colorful guy, ” President Obama said in a news conference on Monday. He asked his team to evaluate if pushing through with the bilateral meeting with Duterte would be productive and constructive, considering the statements Duterte just made against him.
“Fighting narco-trafficking is tough, but we will always assert the need to have due process,” the U.S. president added.
Obama eventually canceled the meeting Monday afternoon and decided to meet with the president of South Korea instead. As a result, Philippine stocks stumbled, with international investors expressing concern about putting their money in Philippine market.
Duterte issued a response to the media through his surrogates, which stated:
“While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. President.
Our primary intention is to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting closer ties with all nations, especially the US with which we have had a long-standing partnership.”
We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries.”
Duterte’s statement also said the meeting between the United States and the Philippines has been mutually agreed upon to be moved to a later date.
CNN reported that in his speech last Monday, Duterte blamed the United States for causing the unrest on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao.
“As a matter of fact, we inherited this problem from the United States,” Duterte said. “Why? Because they invaded this country and made us their subjugated people. Everybody has a terrible record of extrajudicial killing. Why make an issue about fighting crime?”
CNN further discussed that Duterte was referring to the U.S.’ history as a colonial power in the Philippines, and specifically to one infamous massacre in the southern Philippines — the 1906 Battle of Bud Dajo — in which hundreds of Filipinos, including women and children, were killed.
“How many died? Six hundred,” Duterte said Monday. “If (Obama) can answer that question and give the apology, I will answer him.”
President Obama has maintained, “I always want to make sure if I’m having a meeting that it’s productive and we’re getting something done.” The cancellation of the scheduled meeting just indicates that he deemed Duterte would not be able to make that happen.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
