A group of academics from the Center for Philippine Studies of the University of Hawaii-Manoa has slammed Gawad Kalinga founder Tony Meloto for delivering a speech allegedly riddled with sexist remarks during the CPS’ 40th anniversary last month.
In a collective statement issued on Saturday, the academics from CPS said that the alleged sexist speech disturbed many members of the audience, including community leaders and academicians from all over the world.
“What was most disturbing about his speech was his sexism. His belief that the ‘greatest asset of the Philippines is our beautiful women,’ and that the future of the nation can be advanced by using them to attract the ‘best and brightest’ men from the West, and enticing them to invest in the Philippines, was outrageously sexist and deeply offensive to everybody in the audience, as well as patronizing and disrespectful to Filipino women in particular,” the statement read.
Meloto was also hit for his views on mixed-race Filipinos, humorously saying that there is a need for Filipino women to produce “cappucino” children with white husbands.
“Mr. Meloto went on to share his views on the need for Filipino women and their white husbands to produce what Mr. Meloto (apparently humorously) called ‘cappuccinos,’ and appeared to present such a policy of seduction and reproduction as a solution to the problems of economic development in the Philippines,” the statement read.
For the academics, Meloto’s remarks “are views that the CPS, an institution pioneered and for many years run by strong, and intelligent Filipino women, completely and utterly rejects.”
The CPS apologized for those who were offended by Meloto’s remarks and claimed responsibility on the incident.
Netizens were divided on the issue, with some taking the cudgels to defend Meloto. Some netizens also asked a copy of the transcript or a video of the speech.
INQUIRER.net sought the side of Meloto on the matter but he has not yet responded as of posting time.
Following the release of the statement, Meloto posted a cryptic tweet on his official Twitter account which seem to hint on the incident: “When bad things are said about you, just do more good. It’s love for God, country & the poor that gives me the strength to move on.”
Meloto received various awards for his pro-poor initatives such as the Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Community Leadership in 2006, Social Entrepreneur of the World – World Entrepreneurship Forum and Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2012. AJH