Senator Risa Hontiveros on Saturday criticized President Rodrigo Duterte on his latest rape joke, saying rapists and not the beauty of women make the crime of rape happen.
In a speech on Thursday, Duterte said Davao City has the highest number of rape cases in the country since it has many beautiful women.
READ: Duterte on Davao’s high number of rape cases: ‘Many beautiful women there’
“President Duterte should stop blaming women and how we look and dress for the growing number of rape cases. Beauty doesn’t cause rape, rapists do,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
Hontiveros noted that it is “very disturbing” to see a President who jokes about rape, which she said is the “vilest form of violence against women.”
“Rape is not a measure of beauty. It is not an act of admiration… I ask President Rodrigo Duterte: Is this how men admire women?” said the senator.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque earlier said the public “should not give too much weight” on the President’s statement as it was just a joke.
READ: Palace on Duterte rape remark: It’s a joke, don’t give too much weight on it
Hontiveros however did not find the joke funny.
“To those who defend it by calling it a joke, and by telling us not to give it too much weight, I can assure you that no rape victim or survivor, no woman — since every woman is at risk in this rape culture — ever finds it funny,” she said. /muf