Duterte makes another rape remark involving Miss Universe; netizens react

President Rodrigo Duterte has been in hot water before for making rape remarks, but he made another one on July 14, saying that he would congratulate a rapist who would still commit the crime despite knowing he would die. This time, he made the remark involving the Miss Universe.

Duterte made the remark in his speech in front of Filipino diplomats in Davao City while talking about his deadly campaign against crime since he assumed the presidency last year.
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“What I don’t like are kids (being raped.) You can mess with, maybe Miss Universe. Maybe I will even congratulate you for having the balls to rape somebody when you know you are going to die,” he said.

Duterte earlier made a rape joke in front of the soldiers in Iligan City last May, telling them that he would be willing to go to jail for them if they committed rape.

“I’ll take your place in prison. If you rape 3 [women], I’ll take the blame,” Duterte said.

Former US presidential daughter Chelsea Clinton called him a ‘murderous thug’ for it. Even his supporters called him out for the remark. Journalist Ed Lingao’s post about the rape remark went viral when he sarcastically wondered how the Palace would spin it and Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella indeed made a clarification that Duterte was merely speaking in heightened bravado to express his support for the military.
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Duterte also received flak for making a rape joke while narrating a hostage crisis involving an Australian missionary in 1989 in Davao.

Senator Risa Hontiveros was among those who reacted to President Duterte’s latest rape joke.

“You can’t mess even with Miss Universe when it comes to rape. You don’t have balls when you rape somebody. You have a cowardly hater of women. #RapeIsNotAJoke #EveryWoman,” she wrote.

Other netizens also reacted to the post.

Debate coach Sharmila Parmanand slammed Duterte for saying that he admired rapists, adding that what the President said was “disgusting for a president.”

“Sometimes, we admire people who do things despite great personal risks – for example, a soldier who fights for their country in a war knows death is a possibility, or a whistle-blower who reports crime knows they can get jailed/fired or endanger their family. In these cases, people are taking a stand against something they perceive to be unjust. They’re fighting for something. It’s reasonable to admire them for their bravery,” Parmanand said.

“But the ‘bravery’ of a rapist – there is nothing to admire about it. It’s pure self-indulgence at the expense of someone’s pain,” she said.

“Sure, it was a joke, but the inability to understand this obvious moral distinction is worrying. Disgusting for a president,” she added.

The Twitterverse also erupted with reactions about this latest rape remark from the President.

One called out the Miss Universe organization for a reaction.

Another said, “Rape is not an act of courage & shouldn’t be spoken as such, particularly by a world leader. #EndRape”

Sources: ( rappler.com , philstar.com , gmanetwork.com , inquirer.net )
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