Later Duterte issued a formal statement.
"While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. president," Duterte said in a statement. "Our primary intention is to chart an independent foreign policy while promoting closer ties with all nations, especially the U.S. with which we have had a long-standing partnership."
Duterte declared a “state of lawlessness” in his country after an explosion Friday at an open-air market in Davao City killed more than a dozen people during a presidential visit to the city. Duterte previously served as the city's mayor for more than two decades.
The region was under heightened security amid a military offensive against Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic extremist group based in southwestern Philippines. The U.S. has been a major financial supporter of the Philippine military effort.
The tough-talking Duterte took over as president pledging a war on drugs and threatening to "dump all of you (drug dealers) into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish there." He came under sharp criticism from the United Nations and others for encouraging vigilante-style killings of drug dealers and criminals. Duterte was unmoved.
"Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations," Duterte said.
His statement Tuesday concerning Obama and the United States was high on compromise, low on bluster.
"We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries."
Bacon reported from McLean, Va.
sourcehttp://www.olokunbolablessing.org/2016/09/i-regrets-slamming-obama-says.html
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