A bilateral meeting scheduled to take place today between US President-Barrack Obama and Philippine President-Rodrigo Duterte has been cancelled.
Washington has been compelled to pull the plug on the meeting after Rodrigo Duterte told reporters yesterday that any attempt by Obama during the meeting to flag Philippines’ human rights “crisis” would prompt him to curse at Obama, using a Filipino phrase “putang ina” which can mean “son of a bitch” or “son of a whore”.
“Duterte has bristled repeatedly at criticism over his “war on drugs”, which has killed about 2,400 people since he took office two months ago, and on Monday said it would be “rude” for Obama to raise the question of human rights when they met,” reports Reuters. 
The Philippines are running around to save the situation but it’s pretty late and this is really shocking as the two countries are somewhat allies. The unfortunate situation overshadowed the opening of a summit of East and Southeast Asian nations in Laos.
The Philippines government has said in a statement that: “President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would ‘lecture’ him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern.”
“He regrets that his remarks to the press have caused much controversy,” it added. “He expressed his deep regard and affinity for President Obama and for the enduring partnership between our nations,” the statement added.

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