Philippines president Duterte regrets insulting Obama as bilateral meeting is cancelled

Philippines: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has made a U-turn and expressed his regret over his "son of a whore" comment made in reference to US President Barack Obama on Monday. In a statement released by Duterte spokeman, Duterte said his "strong comments" to certain questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president".

President Duterte made the insulting comments on Monday before his departure to Laos, where he was scheduled to attend a regional summit of global leaders hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vientiane.

Duterte was scheduled to meet with President Obama on the side-lines of the summit, but Obama stated that he was accessing whether now is the right time to have a "constructive, productive conversations" with Duterte.

Duterte has now said both leaders has mutually agreed to cancel the meeting.

The statement added that; 

"We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries."

Duterte made the remarks after a reporter warned him he would be questioned by the US government over the extrajudicial killings of drug dealers which has claimed the lives of over 2400 people since he took power on June 30.

Duterte responded in his typical vulgar style saying; 

"I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum," he said, using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch."