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Friday, March 29, 2024

Sotto cracks family joke, triggers uproar

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“WE RESPECT all kinds of families, and that includes solo parents.”

This was the calm response of Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo to Senator Vicente Sotto III, who made an off-color joke about her being a single parent during a hearing of the Commission on Appointments.

“Just on the lighter side, Senator [Franklin] Drilon and I were looking at the personal information about you and you have two children, are they daughters or sons? But you’re single?” asked Sotto when Taguiwalo presented her case before the members of the Commission on Appointments.

Taguiwalo replied and told Sotto, a comedian-turned-politician, that she has two daughters.

“My life has never been a normal one. I’ve never had a whole ‘mother-father-children’ kind of thing except when I was growing up in Bacolod,” Taguiwalo said.

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“I graduated from UP in 1970, I did organizing work. From 1972 up to the 1986, it has been a life underground or in prison. So, my story would be different from the stories of those who have gone through corporation, etc.” she added.

Sotto then joked: “In the street language, when you have children and you are single, ang tawag lang ay na-ano lang.”

“Thank you, you have my 100 percent support, Madam Secretary,” Sotto said.

Taguiwalo then told Sotto “I teach women’s studies in UP [University of the Philippines] so we respect all kinds of families, and that includes solo parents.”

Social media users denounced Sotto’s joke, saying they found the remark insulting and degrading to single parents.

“This is not a comedy show. You do not embarrass a woman for being a single mother to get laughs, Shame on you, Tito Sotto, shame on you,” said @TheCurious on her Twitter account.

Senator Vicente Sotto III

Another social media user, Miss France Sajorda, said :”Respect and love to all the single mothers and mga “na-ano” out there who raised kids million times more decent than that Tito Sotto.”

“I just can’t imagine a person like Tito Sotto is in the Senate laughing and poking fun [at] solo parents. Napaka perfect ng pamilya nyo po,” said @Oreo also on Twitter.

Members of the CA decided to defer Taguiwalo’s confirmation after she was questioned about her links to the communist party, and scheduled the next hearing next week.

President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Taguiwalo as DSWD secretary in June 2016.

The Gabriela Women’s Party took offense with Sotto’s remarks. 

“The senator clearly went out of bounds, insinuating malice at Taguiwalo who raised her two children as a solo parent, dubbing such as na-ano.

“Solo parents, including the DSWD secretary should in no way be at the receiving end of such insults. We demand a public apology from the senator,” the group said in a statement.

Sotto said he was sorry if his remarks offended some people, but said his critics apparently did not get the joke.

“As I said, it was made it as a joke. And everybody in the hall, almost everybody laughed,” he noted.

Sotto said some of his critics were “perhaps overly sensitive.”

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