Philippines’ President Expresses ‘Regret’ For Cursing Obama

Recently inaugurated Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte is “expressing regret” for his comments at a fiery press conference, in which he called President Obama a “son of a whore” and threatened to swear at him in a planned bilateral meeting.
Duterte, said in a statement through his spokesman that he regretted “it came across as a personal attack on the US President”.
“We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions,” the statement released on Tuesday said.

The White House officials said earlier that Obama would confront Duterte about his country’s handling of drug dealers, including extrajudicial killings, which are government executions without the benefit of judicial proceedings.
“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 scoffed in a speech Monday. “Son of a bitch, I will swear at you.”

Monday afternoon, the White House cancelled the planned bilateral talks between the two leaders, who had been set to meet in Laos, where Obama is attending a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders.
The statement from Duterte’s spokesman said the “meeting has been mutually agreed upon to be moved to a later date.”