President Rodrigo Duterte made yet another rape remark, this time, involving Miss Universe, but Malacañang said majority of Filipinos understand and accept his speaking style.
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“The majority of the people, especially the masses, really get him,” said Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella at the Mindanao Hour briefing on July 17.
He added that Duterte was not joking when he made the rape remark, but was making a sarcastic comment.
“Basically, it’s not a joke. It’s a very serious statement, that’s actually saying—kumbaga para niyang sinabi, ‘Bilib naman ako sa iyo, gagawin mo pa iyan, alam mo ikakamatay mo iyan,’” Abella said.
“It’s a sarcastic statement. It was not a joke,” he added.
On July 14, Duterte said that he might congratulate someone who commits rape after knowing that doing so would mean that he would die.
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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,” Duterte said in front of Filipino diplomats in Davao City.
However, Abella said that the masses understand Duterte’s way of expressing himself, knowing that the President has their interests at heart.
“There are those who tend to zero in on certain details, but as far as the public is concerned, and they are the ones who really approve of him, they find the President as somebody who understands them, who has their common interests, their common good, at heart,” Abella said.
President Duterte also made rape remarks in two instances before this. The first one was during the 2016 campaign season when he narrated the 1989 hostage-taking in 1989 in Davao involving an Australian missionary and the second was when he told soldiers he would go to jail for them if they commit rape.
Sources: ( gmanetwork.com , rappler.com )
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