After President Rodrigo Duterte slammed Senator Leila de Lima by calling her an “immoral woman” and accusing her of having an affair with her married driver, Senator Risa Hontiveros came to her colleague’s rescue.
“As a woman, I take deep offense at President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest remarks against fellow Senator Leila de Lima. They are misogynistic,” Hontiveros said in a statement posted on her Facebook page.
She recalled how the attack came after Duterte issued an apology to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno a few days ago. Sereno wrote Duterte a letter, telling the judges included in the President’s narco-list not to surrender without a warrant.
“They are a 180-degree turn from the apology he issued during the campaign period on his rape joke, and his reconciliatory tone to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, whom he threatened with Martial Law regarding policy differences in the government’s war against drugs,” the neophyte senator said.
Hontiveros noted how Duterte’s remarks have been ‘prejudicial’ to the female populace.
“The President’s latest statements establish a consistent and disturbing pattern, which is prejudicial to women,” she said.
Before “destroying” de Lima in public, as he vowed to do, Duterte had an exchange of words with Sereno, another female government official.
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Hontiveros scored Duterte for using “ad hominem politics” by launching personal attacks instead of making arguments.
“It is also an awful display of ‘ad hominem politics.’ President Duterte gave premium to personal attacks over real arguments, and appealed to prejudices rather than discourse,” she said.
Touching on Duterte’s tendency to name-and-shame before conducting “healthy deliberations driven by facts,” Hontiveros said this method is against the government’s promise of promoting transparency.
“Moreover, the remarks were extremely unpresidential and a breach of parliamentary courtesy. It unnecessarily sets the Executive and Senate on a dangerous collision course,” Hontiveros noted.
Earlier, de Lima called Duterte’s naming-and-shaming her as an “abuse and misuse of power” as the President who is immune to any lawsuit.
Hontiveros called Duterte out for making “injudicious” remarks and reminded him of being the President.
“President Duterte cannot continue making injudicious statements. I again remind him, being the highest leader of the land, his public political statements have the force and effect of policy,” she said.
Despite knowing about the President’s “colorful language,” the senator urged him not to use this personal trait as an excuse to “insult and threaten women” or attack a person’s reputation.
Hontiveros closed her statement, saying, “I hope the Senate, as an institution, will rise to the challenge and defend the integrity of one of its members, even as it tries to find ways to peacefully and prudently resolve this matter.”
Women’s groups score Duterte for ‘sexist harassment’
Several women’s organizations showed support for de Lima after she was verbally attacked by Duterte.
“[We] are angered by the sexist harassment by the current President of Senator Leila de Lima,” said Jean Enriquez, the World March for Women coordinator in the Philippines, who headed the rally on Thursday evening, August 18.
“Such attacks by the patriarch tries to send the message that anyone who stands in the way will be disparaged, but not his co-patriarchs,” Enriquez added.
Sources: (facebook.com, rappler.com)
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