President Rodrigo Duterte (left) and Senator Risa Hontiveros. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Senator Risa Hontiveros on Sunday decried President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest rape joke, this time involving the Miss Universe, chiding Duterte as a “champion of misogyny.”
In a press conference at the sidelines of the alternative State of the Nation Address (Sona) “So Ano Na” at the University of the Philippines Bahay ng Alumni, Hontiveros said she is running out of reactions to President Duterte’s jokes trivializing the issue of rape.
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“Nauubusan na kaming kababaihan ng horror, at saka pagreject sa ganyang klaseng kabastusan, sexism at misogyny at its worst,” Hontiveros said.
She made the statement in reaction to President Duterte’s latest rape joke involving the Miss Universe, when he joked that he would congratulate a rapist who molested a Miss Universe, in illustrating how he won’t tolerate rape of children.
“What I don’t like are kids [being raped],” Duterte said. “You can mess with, maybe a Miss Universe. Maybe I will even congratulate you for having the balls to rape somebody when you know you are going to die.”
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Hontiveros said it was stubborn for the President to continue joking about rape even when he had earlier received backlash during the campaign season for joking about the rape of Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill.
“Talagang nagiging incorrigible si Presidente sa paggamit ng isang masaklap na pwedeng mangyari sa kahit sinong babae, bilang isang simplistikong joke,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros said with his rape jokes, Duterte is only proving himself to be a champion of chauvinism and misogyny.
“Kailangang hindi maging joke ang panggagahasa at sa paulit-ulit na ganyang pagjo-joke tungo sa isang bagay na napakaseryoso at isang krimen at paglabag sa dignidad at karapatang pantao ng isang babae, lumalabas na si Presidente Duterte ay pinaka naging champion ng male sexism, chauvinism at misogny,” Hontiveros said.
During the 2016 campaign season, Duterte joked about the rape slay of Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill at a Davao city prison riot in 1989.
Duterte said when he saw that the missionary had been raped, he thought she was so beautiful he as mayor should have been first.
“All the women there were raped in the first assault and they retreated, but the bodies the attackers used remained there, one of which was the body of an Australian lay minister. Tsk, this is a problem … . The body was brought outside and it was covered. I looked at her face, son of a b****… she looked like a beautiful actress in the United States,” Duterte said.
“Son of a b****, what a waste. I was thinking that they raped her and lined up. I was angry because she was raped, that’s one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first, what a waste,” he added.
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Duterte had also joked that he would answer for the soldiers if they are caught raping women while martial law is imposed in Mindanao.
“Trabaho lang kayo. Ako na bahala. Ako na magpakulong sa inyo. Kapag naka-rape ka ng tatlo, aminin ko na akin ‘yun. ‘Pag nag-asawa ka ng pang-apat, bugbugin ka,” Duterte then said. JE
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