US Pres. Obama tagged Pres. Duterte as “a colorful guy” after slamming him and suddenly toning down before and after arriving at Laos, respectively.
“A colorful guy” – That is how United States President Barack Obama described Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte for the latter’s statements against the former before and after he has come to Laos for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum meeting.
On Monday, before Duterte left for the meeting of ASEAN nation leaders, he was asked by a reporter of how he would react should the issue on extrajudicial killings be brought up in his meeting with Obama.
Duterte responded angriyl saying he does not care about Obama because he is not beholden to him or any other state leaders. He went on talking until he has cursed Obama and the US.
“Wala akong pakialam sa kanya. Who is he? When as a matter of a fact, at a turn of the century, before the Americans left the Philippines in the pacification campaign of the Moro in this island, there were about 6 million ang population ng Moro. How many died? Six hundred. If he can answer that question and give the apology, I will answer him. I am not beholden to anybody”, Duterte said in answer to the reporter’s question.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price then issued a statement saying Obama is not going to meet Duterte in the sidelines of the ASEAN forum meeting.
After Obama’s trashing of their meeting, Duterte then was in low tone and even said he regrets his statements.
Upon hearing Duterte’s series and varied-in-mood statements, the US president responded by describing Duterte as “a colorful guy”, referring to his changing moods and tones.
Obama said that while he was in China for the G20 Summit, he has tasked his staff to study and talk to their Philippine counterparts if the supposed bilateral meeting with Duterte would be meaningful and productive.
Obama said, “I just came out of a long day of meetings. I just heard about some of this. But I have seen some of those colorful statements in the past. And so clearly he’s a colorful guy. What I’ve instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have constructive, productive conversations”.
Obama and Duterte’s meeting at the ASEAN sidelines is supposed to be their first ever bilateral meeting.