VIENTIANE: US President Barack Obama urged Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte Thursday to conduct his crime war “the right way”, as the pair clashed at an Asian summit over the crackdown that has claimed 3,000 lives.

The showdown was a fitting climax to a brutal few days of diplomacy that began with the famously acid-tongued Duterte branding Obama a “son of a whore”.

After warnings from Duterte that he would not be lectured on his crime war—which is seeing police and shadowy assassins kill an average of 44 people a day—Obama urged the Philippine leader to respect the rule of law.

“As despicable as these (crime) networks may be and as much damage as they do, it is important from our perspective to make sure that we do it the right way,” Obama told reporters when asked about his conversation with Duterte on the sidelines of Laos meetings.

“Because the consequences of when you do it the wrong way are innocent people get hurt and you have a bunch of unintended consequences that don’t solve the problem.”

Obama’s call came shortly after Duterte gave what diplomats said was a “fiery” address to leaders of the 18-nation East Asia group, including Obama.

Veering off his prepared speech, Duterte launched into a tirade about US military killings in the Philippines when it was an American colony from 1898 to 1946, according to three diplomats Agence France-Presse spoke with who were in the room.

“The Philippine president showed a picture of the killings of American soldiers in the past and the president said: ‘This is my ancestor they killed. Why now we are talking about human rights,” an Indonesian delegate said.

Th delegate described the atmosphere in the room as “quiet and shocked”.

Another diplomat described the speech as “normal Duterte”.

Duterte set the tone for the week when, just before flying to Laos on Monday, he launched a barrage of insults at Obama in response to the US president’s plans to question him over his war on drugs.

“You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum,” Duterte told reporters shortly before flying to Laos.

At the press conference marking the end of his trip to Laos, Obama said he was unfazed by Duterte’s slur.

“I don’t take these comments personally because it seems as if this is a phrase he’s used repeatedly including directed at the pope and others,” Obama said.

He added that such choice words were “a habit, a way of speaking for him.”

Duterte has branded Pope Francis, the US ambassador to Manila and the United Nations as “sons of whores.”

However Obama cancelled a meeting with Duterte scheduled for Tuesday because of the outburst.

They met on Wednesday night before a leaders’ dinner in what Obama described as “not a long interaction”.

Duterte has said the Philippines is in danger of becoming a “narco state”, and eliminating drugs in society is the top priority of his administration.

Duterte was elected to office in a landslide this year after pledging to kill 100,000 people in an unprecedented war on crime.

He vowed in the campaign that so many bodies would be dumped in Manila Bay that the fish there would grow fat from feeding on them.

Duterte has also repeatedly promised to protect police from prosecution if they are charged over the deaths and insisted human rights cannot get in the way of his war.

On the day he was sworn into office, June 30, Duterte urged people living in a Manila slum to kill drug addicts in their community.

His handpicked police chief, Ronald dela Rosa, last month called for drug addicts to kill traffickers and burn down their homes.

The United Nations special rapporteur on summary executions has warned incitement to kill is a crime under international law.

“More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets,” Duterte said on Monday. AFP</s>Now it can be told.

The list of officials allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade was given by former president Fidel Ramos to President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte made the admission during his speech before the Filipino community in Laos Monday night.

Duterte, in Laos for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit, said Ramos showed him the drug list when the latter was trying to convince him to run for president.

“He was strongly urging me to run. He said only you can stop this. Then he showed me a list of generals into drugs,” he said.

The President said the list is so thick and he has not finished validating all the names.

He also named the country’s big-time drug lords, as well as local officials who are also in the drug trade.

Duterte also released a matrix showing Sen. Leila De Lima on top of the drug trade at the national penitentiary.</s>Duterte, Obama shake hands and chat after rift over insult

VIENTIANE, Sept 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte shook hands and had a brief chat on Wednesday, officials said, easing a standoff after Duterte called Obama a "son of a bitch" ahead of a summit of Asian leaders in Laos.

The presidents of the two longtime allies were due to hold talks on Tuesday but the White House cancelled the meeting after Duterte's insult.

"I'm very happy that it happened," Philippines' foreign minister, Perfecto Yasay, said of their short meeting.

"It all springs from the fact that the relationship between the Philippines and the United States is firm, very strong."

Duterte had his outburst on Monday when he was defending his war on drugs that has killed at least 2,400 Filipinos.

Notorious for his tirades and for cursing during interviews and speeches, he later expressed regret for offending Obama.

The two men shook hands and chatted for about two minutes as they waited to take their seats at a gala dinner ahead of Thursday's East Asia Summit, according to Yasay and several of Duterte's aides.

Alan Cayetano, who was Duterte's vice-presidential running mate in this year's election, described the atmosphere as "warm and cordial", while a White House official said "the exchange consisted of pleasantries between the two".

Tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony, are unusual at high-level meetings.

The two countries are treaty allies and Washington has strongly backed Manila's calls for China to abide by a recent ruling over the South China Sea, which the Philippines won.

China is among the countries taking part in Thursday's summit, which includes the 10 Association of South East Asian Nations member states and Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States

Philippines ambassador to Laos, Marciano Paynor, said the tiff with Obama was part of a learning curve for Duterte, who needed a chance to make the transition from being a city mayor to a head of state.

"He has to experience it," he said. "If you don't experience it, you don't know how it's done, you'll be grappling." (Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Louise Ireland)</s>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to personally tear apart and eat Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants, in a bloodthirsty vow of revenge for deadly attacks.

"They will pay. When the time comes, I will eat you in front of people," Duterte told an audience of Filipinos late on Monday night while in Laos for a regional summit.

"If you make me mad, in all honesty, I will eat you alive, raw."

Duterte often hurls abusive insults at critics and is waging a brutal war on crime in which nearly 3,000 people have been killed since he took office on June 30.

His aides often urge reporters against taking Duterte's comments literally, cautioning that the 71-year-old former lawyer speaks in a crude language of the people.

During the election campaign earlier this year Duterte attracted widespread criticism for saying he had wanted to rape a "beautiful" Australian missionary who had been sexually assaulted and murdered in a Philippine prison riot.

Duterte, 71, also claimed to keep two mistresses in cheap boarding houses who he took to short-stay hotels for sexual encounters.

Duterte on Monday offered a particularly vivid description of how he would like to eat Abu Sayyaf militants, who killed 15 soldiers last month and are accused of a bombing in his home city last week that claimed 14 lives.

"I will really carve your torso open. Give me vinegar and salt and I will eat you. I'm not kidding," Duterte said, according to an official video of his speech posted on Tuesday.

"These guys are beyond redemption."

The Abu Sayyaf are a small band of Islamic militants based on remote southern islands of the mainly Catholic Philippines and are listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation.

They are notorious for kidnapping foreigners to extract ransoms, and this year beheaded two Canadian hostages.

Duterte also on Monday caused a major diplomatic rift with the United States after branding President Barack Obama a "son of a whore" who would wallow like a pig.

Duterte made the remarks in response to comments by Obama's aides that the US president would raise concerns about the Philippine war on crime when the pair met in Laos.

Obama abruptly cancelled the meeting, which was scheduled for Tuesday, because of the tirade.</s>Obama tells Duterte to fight crime war 'the right way'

US President Barack Obama urged Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday to conduct his crime war "the right way", after 3,000 people were killed in the crackdown in just over two months.

"As despicable as these (crime) networks may be and as much damage as they do, it is important from our perspective to make sure that we do it the right way," Obama told reporters when asked about his conversation with Duterte on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos.

"Because the consequences of when you do it the wrong way are innocent people get hurt and you have a bunch of unintended consequences that don't solve the problem."

Relations between long time allies the US and the Philippines saw a spectacular setback this week after firebrand politician Duterte branded Obama a "son of a whore".

The outburst on Monday was in response to being told Obama planned to raise concerns about his war of drugs.

"You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte told reporters shortly before flying to Laos.

"We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me."

At the press conference marking the end of his trip to Laos Obama said he was unfazed by Duterte's jibe.

"I don't take these comments personally because it seems as if this is a phrase he's used repeatedly including directed at the pope and others," adding that such choice words were "a habit, a way of speaking for him".

Duterte has branded Pope Francis, the US ambassador to Manila and the United Nations as "sons of whores".

However Obama cancelled a meeting with Duterte scheduled for Tuesday because of the outburst.

They met briefly on Wednesday night before a leaders' dinner, but only exchanged "pleasantries", according to the White House.

- 'More will be killed' -

Duterte was elected to office in a landslide this year after pledging to kill 100,000 people in an unprecedented war on crime.

He vowed in the campaign that so many bodies would be dumped in Manila Bay that the fish there would grow fat from feeding on them.

Duterte has also repeatedly promised to protect police from prosecution if they are charged over the deaths and insisted human rights cannot get in the way of his war.

Duterte has said the Philippines is in danger of becoming a "narco state", and eliminating drugs in society is the top priority of his administrations.

On the day he was sworn into office, June 30, Duterte urged people living in a Manila slum to kill drug addicts in their community.

His handpicked police chief, Ronald dela Rosa, last month called for drug addicts to kill traffickers and burn down their homes.

The United Nations special rapporteur on summary executions has warned incitement to kill is a crime under international law.

Despite growing condemnation of the comments and what rights groups say are rampant extrajudicial killings, Duterte has vowed to continue.

"More people will be killed, plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets," Duterte said on Monday.</s>COMMON THINKING OF MOST ANTI-DUTERTE GROUPS TO DUTERTE GOVT</s>VIENTIANE: Barack Obama met briefly with Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, their two governments said, days after the firebrand politician branded the US president a “son of a whore”.

The encounter took place just before a dinner during a summit of regional leaders in Laos, officials indicated.

“They met at the holding room and they were the last people to leave the holding room. I can’t say how long they met,” Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, travelling with Duterte, told reporters shortly afterwards.

“I’m very happy that it happened.”

In a terse statement, the White House said only that “Obama had a brief discussion with President Duterte before the ASEAN Gala Dinner in the leaders’ hold space.”

“The exchange consisted of pleasantries between the two.”

Obama cancelled Tuesday’s planned meeting with Duterte on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-hosted summit after the notoriously acid-tongued Philippine president launched a barrage of insults the previous day.

His outburst was prompted by US assertions that Obama planned to raise the issue of Duterte’s war on crime that has claimed 3,000 lives in just over two months.

“You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum,” Duterte told reporters when asked about his message for Obama.

“We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me.”

Obama initially responded by calling Duterte a “colourful guy”, but then called off the meeting after the international media reported heavily on the issue.

The snub was a spectacular setback for relations between the United States and Philippines, which are longtime allies and are bound by a mutual defence treaty to help each other in times of war.

The two countries also appeared to clash over the meaning of satellite imagery showing Chinese activity on a disputed reef off the coast of the Philippines.

Releasing the images Duterte’s government said they had evidence China was taking steps to begin dredging — a major escalation.

The White House tried to play down the claim, saying it believed Chinese activity in the area was at the same level as previous months.

Yasay sought to characterise Wednesday’s meeting as proof the alliance was strong enough to withstand such hiccups.

“It all springs from the fact that the relationship between the Philippines and the United States is firm, very strong,” Yasay said.

Nevertheless, Duterte’s office earlier Wednesday released a statement saying he would sit next to Obama at the gala dinner.

“The media from all over the world, including from the Philippines, are up in excitement as each await the event where the two leaders will possibly say something positive,” the statement from the presidential palace said.

However Obama did not sit next to Duterte. AFP</s>VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — As bodies continue to pile up in his war on illegal drugs, the Philippine president is making waves at his first summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations where he joins a diverse cast of leaders, including some who have found themselves in the crosshairs of human rights watchdogs.

Rodrigo Duterte would fit right in, critics say, and even steal the show.

As president, Duterte brings a long-blemished rights record into the 10-nation ASEAN bloc, which has struggled with internal strife due to its unwieldy collective of dictatorships, authoritarian states, a monarchy and fledgling democracies since its founding nearly half a century ago as an Asian bulwark against communism.

“For most ASEAN leaders, Duterte represents a throwback to an uglier and more brutal form of Asian state, which taints ASEAN efforts to market itself as an increasingly progressive, modernizing trade block with a focus on trade data, rather than daily police-killing body counts,” said Phelim Kine of New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Once a government prosecutor who fought outlaws and insurgents, Duterte was a longtime mayor of southern Davao city, where he started to build a name for his deadly anti-crime campaign — he was nicknamed “Duterte Harry” after Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry movie character. Since he took office as president on June 30, his crackdown on suspected drug dealers and users has left more than 2,000 people dead. More than 600,000 others, mostly drug addicts, have surrendered apparently for fear of being gunned down.

“That dynamic means that Duterte can expect his most meaningful face-time in Laos with other ASEAN embarrassments such as Cambodia’s dictator Hun Sen, representatives of Thailand’s military junta and his authoritarian Laotian hosts,” Kine said. He can rely on these leaders to lend him a sympathetic ear for “his grotesque justifications of abuse of rule of law and state-sanctioned extrajudicial violence as the price of a ‘secure’ society,” he said.

In a rare moment of diplomatic tumult ahead of an ASEAN summit, the 71-year-old Duterte cursed on Monday at President Barack Obama, warning the world’s most powerful man not to question him about the rising body count in his crackdown or “son of a bitch I will swear at you.” This was hours before they were supposed to meet in the Laotian capital.

The next day Duterte expressed regret in a semi-apology aimed at mending fences. But it was too late.

An evidently offended Obama had by then canceled Tuesday’s meeting, which was shaping up as the most-awaited, again because of Duterte — he had recently unleashed abuses at the U.S. ambassador to Manila, calling him gay in derogatory terms and railed against America’s security policies. Also, Obama was expected to raise the matter of extrajudicial killings, all contributing to growing antagonism between the two longtime allies.

Given what Duterte said, “we felt that it wasn’t the right time to have a bilateral meeting with the U.S. president,” Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said. “Certainly the nature of those comments was not constructive.”

Obama is only the latest victim of Duterte’s foul tongue.

In the few months since the election campaign and more than two months into the presidency, Duterte has cursed the pope, the U.N. secretary-general and gotten into verbal tussles with the revered Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines.

Aside from his deadly record, Duterte’s disdain for statecraft, irreverence and bluntly frank and profane language would likely weigh on ASEAN, a conservative group steeped in tradition, protocol and nuanced rhetoric.

ASEAN’s still in a flux. In an incredible reversal of roles, for example, the Philippines was the democracy champions just years ago and was pushing then military-ruled Myanmar to move toward democratic reforms. Myanmar is now led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who fought her country’s military junta while languishing in home detention for decades.

ASEAN came into being during the Cold War era, and has long been hamstrung by the stark diversity of its member governments along with a bedrock rule of noninterference in each other’s affairs and a policy of making decision by consensus. That has allowed leaders like Hun Sen, Thailand’s coup leader-turned-premier Prayuth Chan-ocha, the faceless one-party communist rulers of Laos and Vietnam, and the general who once ruled Myanmar to occupy regional legitimacy and defy the West’s call for democratic governance.

ASEAN says it’s best to keep dictators in its midst engaged, because dialogue helps to keep them in check. It takes credit for helping Myanmar’s generals give up power. It also says it is necessary to keep the diverse nations together so that they have a stable platform to resolve conflicts and integrate their economies as a counterweight to Asian powerhouses China and India.

Duterte rejects any suggestion that he is a dictator. He sees himself as a leader with an extra tough approach on crime, especially on illegal drugs, because the problem has worsened into a pandemic, corrupting law enforcers and sparking heinous crimes. In ASEAN, he said he would assure the bloc and other countries that there would be no radical shifts in Philippine policies under him.

While critics cringe, Duterte has been adored by a substantial electorate of followers who gave him a convincing election victory on a promise to eradicate crime, drug trafficking and corruption in six months. The tall promise was embraced by crime-weary Filipinos but abhorred by opponents and rights groups as a dangerous expansion of his rights record in Davao, where he was linked to killings with his tacit endorsements of vigilante extermination of alleged drug dealers by motorcycle-riding death squads.

Anna Olarte, an English teacher at an international school in Vientiane, trooped to a convention center with more than 700 other Laos-based Filipinos to see and cheer the president she voted for.

When Duterte walked up the stage and bowed deeply before her and others, Olarte said her heart melted. “It was like, my God, this is my president,” she said.</s>Turkey prototype coup may take place in Philippine by this Christmas to oust President Rodrigo Duterte. Hackers, casino owners, drug barons and corrupt civil-military officials, diplomats (stationed in Philippine mission abroad) and politicians reportedly are hatching a secret conspiracy of toppling-down President Duterte or bring an end to his rule by assassinating him.

Plotters of the coup are planning to assassinate President Duterte either through suicide attack or by buying some of the key figures of his security force.



It may be mentioned here that the annual sale of Yaba which also is known as Meth or Shabu stood at thirty billion dollars in 2015. The number of drug addicts in Philippine stands at 3.7 million plus with an increase of 5-10 percent a year.

Pro-coup diplomats stationed at Philippine embassies in some countries already are secretly providing anti-Duterte propaganda materials to selected media outlets.

Meanwhile, the evil nexus of drug barons, hackers, casino owners and politicians are hiring lobbyists and campaigners in the West to portray President’s efforts to improve the peace and order situation, especially towards eradicating the scourge of illicit drugs as ‘crime against humanity’. Petitions are being sent to the United Nations, European Union and the US by the hired lobbyists with appeals of ‘exerting pressure’ on President Duterte in ‘immediately halting’ killing of drug peddlers and addicts.</s>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret Tuesday that his comments branding US leader Barack Obama a "son of a whore" came across as a personal attack.

The insult on Monday was the latest offensive comment to raise questions about Duterte's diplomatic skills, leading Obama to cancel a planned meeting with him at a regional summit in Laos.

Here are 10 of his most undiplomatic remarks from before and after his landslide election victory this year:

"You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum."

Duterte, who has launched a war on crime that has claimed more than 2,400 lives, warns Obama not to raise human rights issues with him in Laos.

"I'm fighting with (US Secretary of State John Kerry's) ambassador. His gay ambassador, the son of a whore. He pissed me off."

-- Duterte in an August speech smarting over US Ambassador to Manila Philip Goldberg's criticism of his comment about wanting to rape a "beautiful" Australian missionary.

"Fuck you, UN, you can't even solve the Middle East carnage... couldn't even lift a finger in Africa... shut up, all of you."

-- Duterte in a June press conference, a seemingly unprovoked attack on the world body.

"Maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that disrespectful, son of a whore, then I will just leave you."

-- Duterte in an August news briefing after a UN human rights expert said orders in his anti-crime crackdown violated international law. He later said he was just joking.

"Ban Ki-moon, he should write to me so that I will tell him: 'You did nothing. People are being massacred by the thousands. You can't stop (the war) in Turkey, Syria.' So one useless, inutile body."

-- Duterte in an August press conference railing against the UN chief after Ban denounced his apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings.

"I will go there on my own with a jet ski, bringing with me a flag and a pole and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, 'Kill me!'"

-- Duterte in a February campaign speech explaining how he would handle Manila's row with Beijing over the South China Sea. He has since adopted a more cautious tone.

"That's the invention of a woman who wants to commit suicide. You can think of genocide, suicide or what, side by side, upper side, whatever, what if upper side or even upside?"

-- Duterte launches a rambling verbal assault on Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on summary executions, after she accused him of violating international law with his statements seen as inciting people to kill.

"I burned the flag of Singapore. I said: 'Fuck you ... You are a garrison pretending to be a country.'"

-- Duterte in a November speech, recalling how in 1995 he burned a Singapore flag to protest at the execution of a Filipina maid in the city-state.

"You are not a warrior if you do that. We are not Arabs. That is not our culture. We are all Malay."

-- Duterte in an August speech condemning how Philippine Islamic militants supposedly mutilated the bodies of slain soldiers.

"It took us five hours to get from the hotel to the airport. I asked who was coming. They said it was the Pope. I wanted to call him: 'Pope, son of a whore, go home. Don't visit anymore.'"

-- Duterte in a November 2015 speech recalling being stuck in Manila traffic when Pope Francis visited the Philippines.
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte declares a state of emergency in the whole country. In a warning to Abu Sayyaf, Duterte says "I will eat you alive."