Obama cancels meeting with Philippine leader after 'whore' jibe

President Obama cancelled what would have been his first meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who had earlier called him a "son of a whore".

The plain-spoken populist, known for his colourful remarks and his campaign against illegal drugs in which thousands of people have died, made the comments on Monday, a day before the planned meeting in Laos.

President Obama learned about the insult at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China.

The White House, which described the comments as "vulgar", had said Obama did not plan to pull any punches on his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines, its treaty ally, when meeting Duterte.

Duterte won the presidency in May as he promised to suppress crime and wipe out drugs and drug dealers, and a wave of extrajudicial killings has followed.

So-called justified killings are being carried out in the battle to rid the Philippines of drugs and crime pledged by its new president. Credit: ITV News
Philippines President Duterte’s war on drugs has driven prisons to breaking point as thousands of drug users turn themselves in. Credit: ITV News
Almost 2,000 people have died amid President Duterte's war on drugs and it is likely thousands more will be killed before the campaign ends. Credit: ITV News

Duterte said it would be "rude" for Obama to raise the human rights issue, and told reporters such a conversation would prompt him to insult Obama, using a Filipino phrase for "son of a whore."

"Plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue," he said.

It's not the first time Duterte has insulted a world leader.

He called Pope Francis a "son of a whore" in May, and called U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg a "gay son of a whore."