President Obama confirmed Thursday that he shook hands with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and briefly spoke with the bombastic leader Thursday in Laos during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, after Duterte called Obama a “son of a bitch.”
“I don’t take these comments personally because it seems this is a phrase he’s used repeatedly” and one he has “directed at the pope and others, so it seems to be just a habit, a way of speaking for him,” Obama said about Duterte’s tendency to call people sons of bitches when he is angry.
He said the flap will not undermine the strong alliance between Washington and Manila.
Duterte was a no-show at a summit meeting earlier Thursday and his spokesman told reporters at the summit that he was sidelined by a migraine headache.
The spokesman also said he could not confirm or deny reports that Duterte’s daughter suffered a miscarriage, saying he had just heard those reports as well, could not confirm them, but if true, “it is a family matter.”
The spokesman also said there is still a chance that Obama and Duterte could meet more formally during the remainder of the summit Thursday.
