MANILA. President Rodrigo Duterte, right, greets U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Philip S. Goldberg, left, as Secretary of State John Kerry looks on during his visit at the Malacanang palace in Manila, Wednesday, July 27, 2016. (AP Photo)
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Friday insisted that he would not apologize to United States (US) Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg for calling the latter "gay."
"He didn't apologize to me when we met in Malacañang, why would I apologized? He started it first," the President said in a chance interview at Camp Teodulfo Bautista in Jolo, Sulu.
Duterte was apparently referring to the courtesy call of Goldberg and members of US congressional delegation on Duterte in July.
The President admitted that he was hurt when Goldberg issued a statement on his remark about the rape of Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamil in 1989.
"I was really hurt because [that happened during] election time. Now, I'm somehow okay. Who would have not been angry that he issued such statement during election time?" he said.
During the presidential campaign, Duterte jokingly said, "This one's (Hamil) beautiful (and) like an actress. Son of a b****, they beat me to her."
Goldberg then hit Duterte and said that he condoned such statement that "either degrade women or trivialize issues so serious as rape or murder."
In a statement, US Department of State spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said the President's gay remark against Goldberg was "inappropriate and unacceptable."
"We have seen reports of inappropriate and unacceptable comments made about Ambassador Goldberg, a multi-time ambassador and one of the US Department of State's most senior diplomats," Trudeau said.
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2016/08/13/duterte-wont-apologize-calling-goldberg-gay-491085
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