Posted on 09/07/16
| News Source: VIN
Vientiane, Laos - Philippine officials say their president, Rodrigo Duterte, has met informally with President Barack Obama in a holding room before attending a gala dinner at a regional summit.
The brief meeting Wednesday night took a little sting out of the soured relations caused by Duterte’s intemperate language in referring to Obama earlier this week. That caused Obama to cancel a formal meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Pefecto Yasay told reporters, “I am confirming that they met.”
He says the interaction shows that the relationship between the two allies is strong.
Obama and Duterte are in the Laotian capital along with other regional leaders for the summit.
There was no immediate confirmation from the White House.
Details about what they discussed weren’t immediately available.
Obama and Duterte had been scheduled to hold their first meeting Tuesday. But Obama canceled it after Duterte called Obama a “son of a bitch” and threatened to swear at him if he brought up concerns about extrajudicial killings of drug dealers and users in the Philippines.