United States President Barack Obama, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. File/Composite
MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte's insulting remarks towards United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon did not sit well with Duterte's mentor, former President Fidel V. Ramos.
The former Davao City mayor has cursed Ban for criticizing his war on drugs. He has also threatened to pull the Philippines out of U.N. and claimed that the country can survive without the aid from the intergovernmental organization.
But Ramos reminded Duterte that Ban, as foreign minister of South Korea, helped the descendants of Filipino Korean War veterans get scholarship.
“Many of us veterans of Korean War were hurt in the sense that - who is Ban Ki-moon? He was foreign minister of Korean President Roh Moo-hyun…. Ban Ki-moon made sure that descendants of Filipino veterans were given scholarships..Why is he hurting this guy?” Ramos said.
Ramos also criticized Duterte for his insulting remarks towards U.S. President Barack Obama, who has expressed concerns over the Filipino leader’s bloody war on drugs.
Duterte told Obama last week to "go to hell".
For Ramos, Obama is a great president, being the first black American to make it to White House.
He said Duterte may compare himself to Obama, being the first Mindanaoan to become the Philippine president.
“I consider Obama a great president in the sense that he's first black American to make it to the top. It’s a like a Mindanaoan making it all the way to the top, to Malacañang. It's that kind of a struggle of a minority ethnic,” he said.