Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday lashed out at Barack Obama as the “son of a whore” in response to Obama’s plan to question Duterte about his country’s savage drug war that has claimed more than 2,400 lives.
“You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum.
We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me,” Duterte told a news conference before flying to Laos to attend a summit, according to the Agence France-Press news service.
But other media outlets gave a different translation of the Phillipine leader’s below- the-belt remark, saying Duterte called him a “son of a bitch.”
Duterte didn’t stop there, vowing to slaughter many more of his citizens to eradicate the nation’s illegal drug trade.
“More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed, we will continue and I will continue.
I don’t give a s—t about anybody observing my behavior, ” Duterte said.
He was scheduled to hold a sideline discussion with Obama during Tuesday’s meeting of global leaders hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Vientiane, the Laotian capital.
But soon after Duterte’s shocking comment, Obama said his staff would have to review whether a discussion would be fruitful.
“I always want to make sure if I’m having a meeting that it’s actually productive and we’re getting something done,” Obama said during a trip to China Monday.
Duterte took over as president in May after promising to wage war against illicit drugs.
As of June 30, Philippine anti-drug commandos have killed more than 2,400 people with the help of suspected vigilantes.
Obama had pledged to confront Duterte over how the Philippine government has handled the drug problem.
“The issue of how we approach fighting crime and drug trafficking is a serious one for all of us. We’ve got to do it the right way,” Obama said earlier at the G20 conference in Hangzhou, China.
“Undoubtedly, if and when we have a meeting, this is something that’s going to be brought up. And my expectation, my hope, is that it could be dealt with constructively.”
