President Rodrigo Duterte recalled his brief exchange with United States President Barack Obama in a holding room just before the dinner gala for ASEAN leaders in Vientiane, Laos last Wednesday night.
He made his narration during his speech on Friday afternoon in front of the Filipino community in Jakarta, Indonesia.
He said he had told the U.S. leader, “I never made that statement. Check it out,” referring to the slur language Duterte had supposedly used to refer to Obama.
He also shared with fellow Filipinos in Indonesia his previous speech delivered to the leaders of 18-nation East Asia group, that included Obama, back in Laos.
He recalled, “I produced a few pages with pictures about the pacification by Americans in the 1990s.”
He said, “I showed them a picture of the killings of American soldiers in the past.”
He explained that his Filipino ancestors were slain in that tragic event that constituted 'historical injustice.'
He said, “they could number about 200,” referring to the Filipino fatalities.
In Laos, he had then asked the heads of state, “can anyone here tell me what human rights is all about?”
On Friday afternoon in Shangri-La Hotel in Jakarta, Duterte insisted that he did not use foul language to describe Obama.
“Ang sinabi ko, huwag akong bastusin,” Duterte said, reacting to information that human rights and alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines might be tackled during his meeting with Obama.
The meeting was subsequently called off by the White House.
Duterte is expected to return to the the Philippines early Saturday morning and he is set to proceed to Davao City.