President Rodrigo Roa Duterte listens to the query from one of the members of the media after delivering his arrival statement at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on June 5, 2018, following a successful three-day official visit to the Republic of Korea. KING RODRIGUEZ / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
“We enjoyed it.”
This was how President Rodrigo Duterte described his kiss with a married Filipino woman in Seoul as he slammed critics who said it was unpresidential.
“We enjoyed it. It was a showbiz and everybody enjoyed it. Asking for malice, I do not do it in public if there is malice. I would pull the woman’s — down somewhere along the empty hall there,” Duterte said in a press briefing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 2 after his arrival from a three-day official trip in South Korea.
He mocked those who criticized his act, saying: “I don’t want to kiss them because they have bad breath. They are just envious.”
Duterte said kissing a woman was his own style and that he had been doing it even when he was still a Davao City mayor.
“You know, I’ll tell you what, there are people here from Davao. During the campaign in my mayorship days, I kiss every woman there, lips to lips,” he said.
“Ayaw mong maniwala? Tignan mo ng footage ng ABS-CBN. Hindi lang ‘yan smack, ‘yung ibang babae gusto talaga ng romance,” he added.
He defended his gesture, saying his critics were just envious of him.
“Style ko ‘yan eh. Maghanap kayo ng ibang style ninyo. There is nothing wrong in a simple kiss you cause an uproar. Inggit lang ‘yan sila. Sabihin mo sa kanila palitan nila ang pustiso nila,” he said.
On Sunday night, the President ended his two-hour long speech before the Filipino community with a quick kiss to a woman, identified as Bea Kim, to whom he had given a book.
READ: Duterte’s meeting with Filipinos in Korea sealed ‘with a kiss’
His gesture earned criticisms from certain members of the public, but Malacañang said it was a “light moment” and there was “no offended party.” /cbb
READ: Palace on Duterte kissing an OFW: It’s a playful act accepted in Filipino culture