AUSTRALIA’S ambassador to the Philippines on Monday denounced jokes on rape and murder after presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte and his supporters made fun of the 1989 assault on an Australian missionary in Davao City.
“Rape and murder should never be joked about or trivialized,” Australian Ambassador Amanda Gorely said in a statement on Twitter.
“Violence against women and girls is unacceptable anytime, anywhere,” Gorely added.
Photo credit: @AusAmbPH/twitter.com
Duterte’s comments were caught on video, saying he found the missionary beautiful and lamented that he was upstaged by the prison inmates who raped and killed the Australian woman.
His comments drew a firestorm of criticism on social media and from his rival candidates, saying his remarks were insensitive, unacceptable and showed lack of respect for women.
President Benigno S. Aquino III’s Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said Duterte’s offer to serve as president “truly deserves scrutiny” and that his words show his “lack of fitness” for the position.
Presidential candidate Senator Grace Poe said Duterte would be “a dangerous president,” adding that the character he has shown is frightening.
She said there was no justification for Duterte’s rape remark.
As a woman and a mother, Poe said, she is not just saddened, but alarmed and frightened because of his kind of thinking.
“That’s not the mindset of the majority and he’s only showing a bad example….We cannot say that this is reasonable. This is not reasonable thinking,” she said.
A group of overseas workers on Monday joined the United Nationalist Alliance and the Liberal Party in condemning Duterte’s remarks.
Migrante International said many Filipina workers were victims of abuse abroad and feared that this would grow under a Duterte presidency.
Liberal Party spokesman Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice said the remarks on the rape case unmasked Duterte’s irresponsibility.
Students from the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City also slammed Duterte for his rape remarks, with the school’s student council calling on the nation “to hold their leaders to account.” “Leaders ought to be held to a higher moral standard,” the council’s statement read.
“Rape is no joking matter, and making light of violence against women is unbecoming of anybody, especially when they are public servants who aspire to lead the nation,” it said.
Prospero de Vera, vice president for public affairs of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, said no government official or national leader should joke about rape.
“He must apologize for that, and others must ask him to stop talking about that,” De Vera said. With Rio N. Araja, PNA
UNA standard bearer Vice President Jejomar Binay on Monday criticized Duterte for refusing to apologize for his remarks.
He also questioned Duterte’s claim that he was vulgar because he grew up in a poor neighborhood.
“You have never been a poor. It’s not good to poke fun at rape and murder because the poor are always victims of rape and murder. Don’t insult the poor. The poor have dignity,” Binay said.
Binay asked parents and grandparents to consider what voting for Duterte would mean for the future generations—a leadership that not only disrespects women but one that will not think twice about killing minors suspected of crimes.
Vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Monday that Duterte’s remarks were “unfortunate.”
“We were surprised. It seems unfortunate and I can only describe it as inappropriate. That person was a victim, and yet, we added to (the injury),” Marcos said.
Another candidate for vice president, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, said Duterte’s remarks show he is sick in the mind.
“This guy should not be president of our country,” he said.
Re-electionist Senator Ralph Recto said whoever becomes president must make stopping rape and all kinds of violence against women a priority.
A woman or a child is raped every 50 minutes, he said.
Last year, he said, rape cases reported to the police reached 10,298, up from 9,887 in 2014. He said the real number could be higher as many assaults go unreported. – With Rio N. Araja, PNA