US President Barack Obama urged Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte Thursday to conduct his crime war “the right way”, as the pair clashed at an Asian summit over the crackdown that has claimed 3,000 lives.
The showdown was a fitting climax to a brutal few days of diplomacy that began with the famously acid-tongued Duterte who warned that he would not be lectured on his crime war — which is seeing police and shadowy assassins kill an average of 44 people a day.
Obama urged the Philippine leader to respect the rule of law.
“As despicable as these (crime) networks may be and as much damage as they do, it is important from our perspective to make sure that we do it the right way,” Obama told reporters when asked about his conversation with Duterte on the sidelines of Laos meetings.
“Because the consequences of when you do it the wrong way are innocent people get hurt and you have a bunch of unintended consequences that don’t solve the problem.” AFP
