Duterte says he told Obama he never insulted him, thinks UN's Ban a fool

JAKARTA, September 9 (Reuters): Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told Barack Obama he never called him a "son of a bitch", he said on Friday, but he maintained a defiant stance on his war on drugs, saying U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon was a fool for bringing up human rights.   U.S. President Obama cancelled a planned meeting with Duterte at this week's ASEAN summit in Laos after the Philippine leader's alleged insult in his native Tagalog, but the two met briefly later as they waited to take their seats at a banquet.   On a visit to the Indonesian capital on Friday, Duterte told a group of Filipinos that the slur was not directed at the U.S. president and that he had told him so.   "I was ready (for Obama). I was waiting for Obama to respond. Lawyer to lawyer, we are both lawyers anyway... I said I never made the statement. Check it out.   "...I said that, but not in relation to Obama," he said. "I'm not fighting with America."   Obama and Duterte shook hands and had a brief chat on Wednesday, officials said, easing the standoff. Duterte had his outburst on Monday when he was defending his war on drugs that has killed at least 2,400 Filipinos.   Duterte on Friday said he thought U.N. Secretary-General Ban a fool for bringing up the issue of human rights violations weeks before the summit in Laos.   "Even Ban Ki-moon weighed in," Duterte said. "Also gave a statement before, several weeks ago, about the human rights violation. Sabi ko, isa ka pang tarantado (you are another fool)."   Duterte also said he would try to boost security for ships using the waters between Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, where there have been several kidnappings and other attacks.   The Philippines would let Indonesian forces pursuing pirates enter its waters, he said.   ""This time we make it clear that if the chase began in Indonesia, then crosses in international waters, and inside Philippine waters, they can go ahead and blast them off."  

ASEAN leaders and US told not to lecture Philippines on rights

  VIENTIANE, September 9 (Reuters): Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday defended his country's human rights record at a regional summit in Laos, urging East Asian leaders and the United States to help Manila eradicate the scourge of illicit drugs.   Duterte swept to power in May on promises to wipe out crime and corruption within six months, pledging to wage a war on drug dealers and crush widespread addiction in a country of 100 million.   The toll in his government's two-month war on drugs reached 2,400 last week, with police saying about 900 people died in police operations, and the rest were "deaths under investigation", a term human rights activists call a euphemism for vigilante and extrajudicial killings.   Setting aside a prepared speech, Duterte spoke for more than five minutes about human rights and his campaign against drugs during the East Asian Summit in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, according to one Indonesian diplomat at the meeting.   "Let me tell you about human rights," the diplomat quoted Duterte as saying while displaying a picture of Filipinos killed by American soldiers about a century ago.   "This is my ancestors being killed, so why now we are talking about human rights? We have to talk of the full spectrum of human rights."   Duterte spoke after Obama had delivered a speech that referred to human rights.   Duterte's drive has won popular support at home but the killings have drawn expressions of concern from the United States, a close Philippine ally, and the United Nations.   In a tirade before the Laos summit, Duterte insulted U.S. President Barack Obama and the White House responded by cancelling a two-way meeting.   Philippine officials this week handed out a 38-page pamphlet at the summit that praised Duterte's drug campaign.