“President Obama will not be holding a bilateral meeting with President Duterte of the Philippines this afternoon,” National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in Washington. We have long ceased to be a colony of the United States. “You must be respectful,” President Duterte was quoted as saying in a media briefing before his departure for Laos Monday. We are one of the United States’ strongest allies in the Asia-Pacific region, and it will stay that way,” Lacson said. “Unfortunately, the cancelled meeting with President Obama is a missed opportunity to strengthen ties with an important ally.

Source: Manila Bulletin September 06, 2016 16:07 UTC