Obama: I didn't take Duterte's cursing personally

Obama: I didn't take Duterte's cursing personally


United States President Barack Obama and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. File/Composite
(1st UPDATE) U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday he did not take President Rodrigo Duterte's cursing personally, adding that it may be just the way Philippine leader speaks.

"I did shake hands with President Duterte last night. It was not a long interaction, and what I indicated to him is that my team should be meeting with his and determine how we can move forward on a whole range of issues," he said in a press conference in Laos after the ASEAN Summit.

"As I said, when I was asked about this in China, I don't take these comments personally because it seems as if it's a phrase he's used repeatedly, including directed to the Pope and others. And so I think it seems to be just a habit, a way of speaking for him," Obama added.

Obama also said the US wants to work with the Philippines in eradicating narco-traffickers in the country.
"But as I said in China, we want to partner with the Philippines on the particular issue of narco-traffickers, which is a serious problem in the Philippines. It's a serious problem in United States and around the world," he said.

"On that narrow issue, we do want to make sure the partnership we have is consistent with international norms and rule of law. So, we're not going to back off from our position that if we're working with a country, whether it's on anti-terrorism, whether it's on going after drug traffickers, as despicable as these networks may be, as much damage as they do, it is important, from our perspective, to make sure that we do it the right way because the consequences of when you do it the wrong way is innocent people get hurt," Obama also said.

Duterte made headlines this week after he attacked the US in expletive-laden remarks when asked in a press conference before leaving for the ASEAN Summit about Obama's plan to discuss with him the human rights situation in the Philippines in light of the government's bloody war on drugs.
The expletive can be translated in English as "son of a bitch" or "son of a whore."