Duterte Tells Obama Not to Question Him About Killings

FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2016, file photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he addresses Overseas Filipino Workers who were repatriated back to the country at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay city, south of Manila, Philippines. Duterte, who disparaged the pope and others who controvert his worldview, warns U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, not to question him about extrajudicial killings. AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned President Barack Obama on Monday not to question him about extrajudicial killings, or “son of a [expletive] I will swear at you” when they meet in Laos during a regional summit.

Duterte said before flying to Laos that he is a leader of a sovereign country and is answerable only to the Filipino people. He was answering a reporter’s question about how he intends to explain the extrajudicial killings to Obama. More than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since Dutertelaunched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30.

In his typical foul-mouthed style, Duterte responded: “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 [expletive].

Duterte has earlier cursed the pope and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

President Barack Obama at a press conference following a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Feb. 16, 2016. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images