Duterte takes another stab at Obama

President Rodrigo Duterte —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE/Philippine Daily Inquirer

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday slammed anew United States (US) President Barack Obama for interfering in his administration’s war on illegal drugs.

“Mr. Obama, what went wrong? Get your dictionary. Find out the right meaning of dignity,” Duterte said in a speech during the regional convention of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines in Manila.

The President also hit the US for allegedly threatening to stop its aid to the Philippines because of reports of human rights violations on the government’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.

“If you think it’s high time for you guys to withdraw your assistance, go ahead. We will not beg for it,” he said.

The President said he wouldn’t be cowed by possible withdrawal of foreign aid from a foreign leader who believed that his administration’s war on drugs was tainted with extrajudicial killings.

“How do you look at us? Mendicants? Sige lang. Di kami (sunud-sunuran). We will survive. We will survive. Maski magkahirap dito. We will survive,” he had said earlier.

Duterte has also been saying that he would want to chart an independent foreign policy for the Philippines, threatening to sever ties with US, one of the country’s long-time allies.

Despite Duterte’s tirades, the US said its relationship with the Philippines remains “ironclad.” /atm