Gabriela to Duterte: Why would women take your advice?

MANILA, Philippines — The Gabriela Women’s Party on Sunday asked President Rodrigo Duterte why women should follow his advice that they should stay away from priests.

“Why would women take an advice from a self-confessed womanizer and serial misogynist?” Gabriela said in a statement

“The macho-fascist president would be the last person who could give decent advice on how women can stay away from or fight abuse,” it added.

The partylist group was reacting to the statement of Duterte during an event in Negros Occidental where he said that women should avoid getting too close to a priest in order not get courted.

“The women should refrain from going near the priests because when you are near him, he will just smell the scent of your body. And if he corners you in the church, patay ka, he will court you. Do you know why? It’s because he is a man,” Duterte said.

READ: Duterte advises women not to go near priests if they don’t want to be courted

According to Gabriela, the statement of Duterte “seeks to drive a wedge between women and the Church who are now finding common ground to make his regime accountable for its crimes against the people.”

“Gabriela has never ceased to make perpetrators of abuse accountable whether they come from the ranks of the Church, police and military personnel or government officials,” it said.

This is not the first time where Gabriela slammed the remarks of Duterte against women.

It could be recalled that the group condemned in October the “spit” remark of the Chief Executive on women, saying that it “further contributes to the degradation and disrespect of women.”

READ: Gabriela condemns Duterte’s ‘spit’ remark on women

They also blamed Duterte’s “misogyny and perverted exhortations” for it have “nurtured the culture of rape and impunity” in the Philippine National Police. /je

READ: Gabriela blames Duterte’s ‘misogyny’ for ‘culture of rape’ in PNP