Philippines president calls Obama 'son of a $#%^@'

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret Tuesday over his "son of a bitch" remark while referring to U.S. President Barack Obama, in a rare display of contrition by a politician whose wide arc of profanities has unabashedly targeted world figures including the pope.

In a statement read by his spokesman, Duterte said his "strong comments" in response to questions by a reporter "elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. president."

Duterte made the intemperate remarks Monday before flying to Laos. He had been scheduled to meet Obama separately on Tuesday, but the White House canceled the meeting.

Even though Duterte's statement did not amount to an apology, the expression of regret is unusual for the tough-talking former mayor, who is unapologetic about his manner of speech and liberally peppers casual statements with profanities.

Duterte's aides are likely to have realized there would be a price to pay for insulting the president of the United States.

The U.S. is one of the Philippines' largest trading partners and a key security ally in its fight against Muslim militants in the country's south. Manila also needs Washington's help in dealing with a more assertive China in the disputed South China Sea. The U.S. provides hundreds of millions of dollars in annual assistance to the Philippine military.

Duterte likely had realized his folly by the time he arrived in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on Monday night.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I do not want to quarrel with the most powerful country on the planet," but immediately returned to his typical combative approach, saying: "Washington has been so liberal about criticizing human rights (abuses), human rights and human rights. How about you? I have so many questions also about human rights to ask you. So ... people who live in glass houses should not" throw stones.

He said if the White House had problems with him, it could have sent him a diplomatic note and let him respond. "There's a protocol for that," Duterte said. "You just cannot shoot a statement against the president of any country."

But by Tuesday, he had done a complete U-turn in the tone of his statement.

"We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries," his statement said.

The flap over Duterte's remarks started when a reporter asked him how he intended to explain the extrajudicial killings of drug dealers to Obama. 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 bitch."

Duterte has previously cursed Pope Francis and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.