In a rather unsurprising turn of events at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on Tuesday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte felt insulted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau apparently raised concerns about Duterte's alleged and condoned human rights violations in his drug war campaign named Operation Plan (Oplan) Tokhang, where due process is seemingly waived for suspected or convicted persons affiliated with any drug-related activity.
Duterte, when asked how he responded to the Canadian Prime Minister's query rambled, "I said I will not explain. It is a personal and official insult, I only answer to the Filipino. I will not answer to any other b*llsh*t, especially foreigners. Lay off."
Although he did not specifically mention Trudeau, many believe he was referring to the Canadian Prime Minister as the two had a meeting before Duterte's statement. Prior to that though, Trudeau told the press that his meeting with the Philippine President was positive and that Duterte was even cordial and proper in his responses to Trudeau's questions and statements.
ASEAN analyst Wilfrido Villacorta, on the other hand, has expressed that while there is nothing wrong with questioning or bringing up concerns about the human rights situation tied to the Philippine drug war, Trudeau boasting about it was the disrespectful part. Villacorta also thought that Trudeau was just playing up to the Canadian audience in his interrogation of Duterte and that any host-leader would be offended by what he did.
Earlier in the year and late in the previous one, Duterte has gained much notoriety in the international scene due to his aggressive implementation of Oplan Tokhang, which has resulted in a lot of deaths, mostly of street-level drug addicts or peddlers, and small-time drug operations.
Local news outfit Rappler has put the death count from legitimate police operations and vigilante enforcement at 7,000 as of July 2017, prompting several human rights groups both in and out of the country to commence investigations for possible extrajudicial killings done in the pretense of drug busts.
Still, Trudeau has claimed that his marathon trip to Asia was a "tremendous" success, despite Duterte's outburst.
