Duterte clarified that the controversial remarks he has articulated were not directed at the US President.
On Friday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that his controversial remarks before flying to Laos on September 5 were not for US President Barack Obama.
Duterte and Obama’s scheduled meeting was cancelled after the Philippine president called the US President son of a whore, before flying to Vientiane from Davao International Airport.
On September 9, Duterte released a clarificatory statement regarding the issue when he faced the Filipino community in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“At itong mga taga-[US] State Department, walang… at mabasa ninyo, when you see the Philippine news that they were trying to crucify me for the extrajudicial killings. At sabi ganoon, I will be investigated by the international court. Sabi ko, ‘United States? why? Why should I answer them?’ There will be a certain time that Obama will ask me about the human rights problem… Sinabi ko, ‘I do not answer to anybody except to Filipino people. I’m only responsible to you.’ Kaya sabi ko, ‘Who he?’ ‘Yan ang sinabi ko. If somebody brings it out, and that was at the airport in Davao City, it would be an act of disrespect, bastos ‘yan. ‘Yun lang ang sinabi ko. And you can review the tapes,” Duterte said.
“May sinabi ako pero not in relation to Obama. Sabi ko, ‘wag ninyo akong bastusin. Putang ina niyo. Bababuyin… ‘Yun man ang sinabi ko and you can review the tape,” the President once again said.
The president was referring to news reports saying that while speaking in Filipino, he referred to Obama as a “son of a whore.”
Duterte said that when met the US president in the ASEAN Summit in Laos, he told Obama, “I never made the statement. Check it out.”
Duterte then blamed the international media practitioners for their choice of words when translating “pu**** ina”.
“The Americans can spin stories. They used the predicate or the adjective that is really worst to hear. Let me just give you—People judge best when they condemn… Iyong putang ina sa atin, they connected it with the word son of a whore. A whore is a very terrible thing to hear. I was talking all along in the dialect. The best combination there of the words translated to English and they do it every day—son of a bitch, son of a gun, di ba?” Duterte stood his side.
“It is not translated in every ordinary day or any other day son of a whore. Pero ginamit nila iyan–siguro si [Obama] took offense. Tignan mo mag-gamit ang international press. You better watch out,” the President insisted.