Lean Daval Jr/Reuters
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday warned President Obama not to question the mass deaths surrounding the country’s drug war, or “son of a bitch I will swear at you.” The two were to meet in Laos during the regional summit, but Obama has reconsidered the meeting. Duterte told reporters that he only needs to answer to his own citizens on the more than 2,000 “suspects” who were killed without trial in Duterte’s effort to weed out drug dealers in his country. Duterte said, “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. [Son of a bitch] I will swear at you in that forum.”
After news broke of Duterte’s colorful intentions for the prepared meeting, Obama told the press that he’s asked his staff to evaluate whether meeting with the leader would at all be “productive.”