Women’s rights groups slammed President of Philippines Rodrigo Duterte after he allegedly made a joke linking the high rape crime rate in the southern city of Davao to the number of “beautiful women” living there.
“They said there are many rape cases in Davao. As long as there are many beautiful women, there will be more rape cases,” Duterte said at a public event on Thursday (Aug 30).
The president’s comments were immediately criticized by women’s rights activists and groups. Filipino women's rights activist Elizabeth Angsioco said the president’s comment would help normalize rape and threaten the status of women in the country.
“Duterte seems to hate women so much that he comes up with statements that help normalize rape,” Angsioco told Al Jazeera. “This is unacceptable. Not from anyone, especially not from the highest official of the land.”
Throughout his presidency, Duterte has come out with crude and misogynistic content in his speeches. Duterte has come under criticism for his comments about women. He called his daughter a “drama queen” when she revealed she was a victim of sexual assault.
In July 2017, Duterte suggested that he thought it would be acceptable for someone to rape the winner of Miss Universe, an international beauty pageant.
Earlier that year, while addressing a group of soldiers, he joked that men would be allowed to rape three women without punishment. He also bragged that he ordered troops to shoot female communist fighters in their vaginas.
“Instead of seriously addressing the problem, the misogynist Duterte has added insult to the scars of rape survivors,” women’s rights group #BabaeAko (I Am Woman) said in a statement.
Gabriela, a Philippines women’s rights network, released a statement regarding Duterte’s comments. “Yet again, President Duterte sends a very dangerous and distorted message in his latest rape remark, that a woman’s beauty is a cause of rape,” the statement read.
“He toys with Davao pride and misogyny to gloss over a very important detail that women in his hometown of Davao City suffered the greatest number of rape cases in the country. This latest theatrics only confirms one thing: President Duterte is proud to have rolled back whatever gains and legal mechanisms that have been instituted for women’s rights in Davao City,” the statement concluded.
Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, released a statement regarding the president’s comments, saying people should not “give too much weight on what the president says by way of a joke.”
“They’re not OK with rape jokes but let’s just say that perhaps the standard of what is offensive and what is not offensive is more liberal in the south,” Roque told The New York Times.
Data from the Philippine National Police showed that Davao City, Duterte’s hometown, had the highest number of rape cases in the second quarter of 2018 with 42.
Social media users were incensed by the president’s rape remark, saying rape—a heinous crime—is not something that should be joked about.
Sources: nypost.com, philstar.com, Aljazeera.com