VARIOUS personalities, including former US presidential daughter Chelsea Clinton and women’s groups, on Saturday slammed another “rape” joke made by President Rodrigo Duterte who said that he is taking responsibility for the actions that will be made by his soldiers about to be deployed to Marawi City to fight the Maute group.
Malacañang, however, simply brushed off criticisms against the President, saying that he was simply “exaggeratedly describing crimes like taking a fourth wife,” without making any reference to his “rape” comment.
Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was not amused by Duterte’s joke that he would be liable for the acts of the military, even if they rape women.
On her verified Twitter account, Clinton wrote, “Not funny. Ever,” as she shared a Tweet by New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker linking his followers to a story on the incident.
In response to a comment on her Tweet, she added: “Duterte is a murderous thug with no regard for human rights. It’s important to keep pointing that out and that rape is never a joke.”
Speaking to soldiers of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, Duterte expressed his support to troops in Iligan City on Friday and in jest said he could even go to jail for the soldiers if they committed rape.
“‘Pag naka-rape ka ng tatlo, aminin ko na akin iyon. ‘Pag nag-asawa ka ng apat, t—ina, bugbugin ka ng—ito si Delfin,” he added in apparent reference to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
The Gabriela Women’s Party said that Duterte’s rape joke at the height of the implementation of martial law in Mindanao is the “height of insensitivity.”
“Rape is not a joke. Martial law and the heightened vulnerability to military abuse that it brings to women and children are not a joke either,” the group said in a statement.
“President Duterte must be reminded that a rape joke made even as women and children’s lives are in great danger and when liberties and basic rights are being attacked is the height of insensitivity.”
Another group, Tanggol Bayi, an association of women human rights defenders, demanded that the President promote the interest and protection of women and children from abuse and to lift martial law in Mindanao immediately.
“Rape is a heinous crime, never a laughing matter. Rape by State security forces is even worse. It is a tool of the State to inflict violence, to humiliate and to subjugate women into silence and submission. It is a tool of the State to terrorize women, our children and families, our communities,” the group said.
“While we continue to stand against groups that inflict terror on the people of Marawi, we stand against any form of human rights violations by the State, especially by its instruments of war against the people emboldened by Duterte’s martial law declaration in Mindanao. We will continue to be part of the struggle for just and lasting peace, and the arduous struggle to eliminate all political, economic and social bases of violence against women,” it added.
The group said that Duterte is encouraging members of the military to do the heinous act when he quipped the remark last Friday.
“President Duterte, in his most recent rape joke, is preaching to a monstrous choir. He encouraged a known fascist institution, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to do exactly what it has been doing. Women, especially the poor who have been at the receiving end of such violence, are not laughing.”
Malacañang, however, tried to outspin Duterte’s comments, saying that he was simply “exaggeratedly describing crimes” in giving his full support for the military.
“First and foremost, the President has the whole nation’s safety and protection in mind. In Iligan, he gave his full support to the men and women in uniform, taking complete responsibility for their actions, even exaggeratedly describing crimes like taking a fourth wife,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said.
“As Commander-in-Chief he would stand by his personnel and that no one will be abandoned, including the fallen. PRRD is decisively acting, speaking with heightened bravado, that law and order would be brought back in these areas of rebellion in the soonest time possible and that normalcy would likewise be restored with minimal loss of lives.”
Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III likewise tried to make light of the President’s statements, saying that his critics should not take his “rape joke” seriously.
“Joke nga eh bakit seseryosohin?” Sotto said.
Senators Risa Hontiveros and Francis Pangilinan, however, condemned the President’s pronouncements and asked him to apologize.
“Again, rape is not a joke. Rape is a crime. Rape is a violation of the Bill of Rights [which] is not suspended by Martial Law. Rape is not a joke,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
“Even as a joke it is unacceptable for anyone to joke about rape, moreso coming from the commander in chief. He should apologize for the offensive remark,” Pangilinan said.
This is not the first time that Duterte made such comments, when he had been previously made a similar “rape joke” about Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill, who was raped and killed by inmates during a hostage-taking incident in Davao City in 1989.
Duterte had told his supporters during a campaign sortie that when he saw Hamill’s corpse, he wished he was the first to rape her after seeing how beautiful she was.
