President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte will certainly not be endearing himself to feminists anytime soon – the president has been under for issuing remarks that are sexist and insulting during a campaign rally in Bohol last week.
He told Mayor Tita Baja-Gallantes of the town of Garcia Hernandez, that she’s so gorgeous and he would hold on to the garter of her panties to stop her from ever leaving him.
In his speech delivered in Cebuano, Duterte said:
“You are truly beautiful. If it were me, why would I ever break up with you? I will really grab and hold on to your panties if you try to leave, even until the garter snaps. You’re just too beautiful.”
Most people would be shocked and speechless if they hear such an odd statement, but according to The Philippine Daily Inquirer, the crowd actually laughed at what Duterte said.
“Actually, I’m not trying to pull your leg,” Duterte told Gallantes, according to the Inquirer . “But the truth is I heard, if I may [be] allowed to say it in public and it will not offend you, you and your husband are separated.”
Wooing Gallantes further, he asked her if she wants to elope with him. “Can you run away with me? You have children, don’t you, mayor? How many children do you have? I have three, four. I have four but they’re all grown up already so I don’t have a problem there anymore.”
Duterte then jokingly asked his former special assistant, Christopher “Bong” Go, to take care of his partner Honeylet Avanceña when he goes away with Gallantes.
Speaking with Go, Duterte said:
“Please take care of my wife while I’m away. I am here in Bohol to play. To play the game of love.”
Duterte also took it upon himself to tell Baja-Gallantes that he is no longer seeing Agusan del Norte Governor Angel Amante-Matba, someone he apparently used to date, Politiko reported.
“But we are no longer together, mayor. You might have heard. No more. I had a landslide win [in 2016] in her province. And that’s because of love. If her husband is listening: Sir, we don’t have anything going on right now. We only have memories,” Duterte said.
Duterte has come under fire for a number of sexist and misogynistic statements since becoming president. In February 2018, he ordered soldiers to shoot female rebels in the vagina .
The Gabriela Women’s Party,(GWP) a feminist party-list group in Congress, has condemned Duterte’s cringe-inducing public courtship . In a statement on Sunday, May 12, they said it was no wonder that Duterte attracted a pesky cockroach’s attention during the Bohol campaign rally.
“Cockroaches always find their way to rotting garbage. It is clear that they land on people with dirty mouths like the president” said GWP in a statement.
The GWP is referring to an incident when a cockroach landed on President Duterte in a middle of his speech in Bohol.
“We in Gabriela Women’s Party strongly condemn this sick and disgusting display of machismo, infidelity, and ethical bankruptcy. We call on women to make May 13 elections a platform for the resounding rejection of [Duterte’s] misogyny and macho-fascist leadership.” the group added.
