Four business deals were signed during President Rodrigo Duterte’s official visit to Seoul, Korea. But these were overshadowed by one distasteful episode when the President of the Republic of the Philippines kissed, on the lips, a Filipina in the audience who had gone up the stage.
The presidential impropriety was met with laughter and squealing by the Filipino crowd that gathered at the Grand Hilton in Seoul. But for sure there were some who recoiled at this unprecedented, unpresidential behavior.
Mr. Duterte has been accused of being a misogynist because of his words and acts against women particularly those who oppose and criticize him. The list of women he declared his enemies include Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno who has been removed through quo warranto proceedings, Senator Leila de Lima who is now detained, Vice President Leni Robredo who is facing a poll protest and the deportation of Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox whom Malacañang accused of partisan political activity in the Philippines.
Perhaps to prove he can connect with his audience and charm women, he asked the woman to come up the stage on the pretext of giving her the book “Secrets of the Altar.” It is about the sexual dalliances of priests. Duterte distributes the book free to the Filipino community he visits abroad. Is it to destroy the Catholic church which has been very vocal against his actuations and indiscriminate use of vile language? Then why not take on the Church at home in the Philippines instead of doing it overseas and proselytizing among our workers abroad?
Whatever his intent, whether to cast aspersion on the Church or to prove he’s not a misogynist, Duterte did what he did. A self-confessed womanizer, Digong puckered up and planted a kiss on the willing woman’s lips in Seoul.
“There was no malice in it,” gushed Bea Kim. The photo of the kiss landed on every front page of Manila’s major newspapers. The video went viral. I do not want to reprint some of the dirty comments which Kim received more than Mr. Duterte. Upon research by Reuters and the Philippine News Agency, she is married.
Here are some e of the comments on the controversy, their words not mine:
The militant women’s group Gabriela: “It is the President’s perverted way of showing he can intimidate and dominate women at any time and any place he chooses. It is a misogynist’s despicable theatrics to humiliate and demean women,” said Secretary General Joms Salvador.
Senator Risa Hontiveros: “It is disgusting and even if the woman was willing, President Duterte is duty bound as a public official to observe ethical and proper conduct in public.”
My own query: Why do our overseas Filipino workers treat visiting presidents like they were rock stars?” Is it because that aside from their work which earns them more money than back home, they really live empty lives abroad? I have been on some presidential trips overseas. Former Presidents Fidel Ramos and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo were received with respect and deference by our OFWs . Then President Joseph Estrada, a former movie star, was greeted by the Filipino community abroad with the adulation of fans for a film favorite. That’s understandable.
What is not understandable is when the highest official of the land displays the lowest form of behavior in public.
Decorum and propriety, it seems, were lost on a certain president once he won the elections.
The people whom the President represents and who voted him into office are the biggest losers. They cannot speak up for him when he is reviled and talked about in the coarsest of language this President uses himself.
For sure, Mr. Duterte still enjoys public support. This is according to the recent survey of Social Weather Stations. This public acceptance, however, should not be misinterpreted by the President to be used as a license for licentious language. He will get more public support if he complements his work with the finesse of a true leader of the land.
Since it was Mr. Duterte himself who sought the presidency, it is his duty and responsibility to adapt and accept the boundaries of behavior that come with the office.