Koko on Duterte’s tale of sexually assaulting maid: ‘If ever that happened, he was a teenager’

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III on Monday dismissed as a likely "exaggeration" President Rodrigo Duterte's account of molesting his family's maid when he was a youth, and asked if people really wanted to "waste time" on the issue.

Pimentel, president of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), said that Duterte has recounted the story in the past, even during campaign sorties.

“Matagal na po 'yan. Kampanya pa nasabi na yan PAULIT ULIT PA. And if ever that happened, that was when he was a teenager probably at 13. He is now 73,” he said in a text message to GMA News Online when sought for comment.

“We want to make an issue of an allegation which (if true, but is most likely an exaggeration to make it a point that he sinned that is why he went to confession) happened 60 years ago? Do we really want to waste time and print space and screen pixels on this?” he added.

The President, during the distribution of the Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) to agrarian reform beneficiaries in Kidapawan City on Saturday, launched a rant against the Catholic Church and the abuses it has been accused of covering up.

However, Duterte's tirade also included his retelling, in graphic detail, of a confession he made to the priest in which he said he entered the maid's room twice and inserted his finger in her privates as she slept.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo defended Duterte, saying that the president had made up the story. He also accused a women's group of losing the ability to discern what is real from what is supposedly a rebuke to priests.

'Shame on you'

In a statement, Senator Leila de Lima said that "unfortunate" to end 2018 with yet another "despicable speech from a deranged and ever increasingly loose cannon of a President." 

The detained administration critic added, "The trash that comes out from the foul mouth of this President—the 'confession' about the sexual assault of a kasambahay and the intensified attacks against the Catholic faith—is growing ever more toxic and extremely sickening."

"Shame on you, those of you in the audience who would gleefully applaud the offensive rantings, sick non-'jokes,' vile and odious sexist remarks, and blasphemies of this madman," she added.

De Lima added that this is "the evil spirit that our Filipino New Year’s Eve traditions are supposed to drive away," urging Filipinos to do so with "with fiery words of indignation, of noise barrages relaying our condemnation."

She said the opposition must devise an aggressive counter-strategy to expose the insidious agenda of the administration regime, awaken the silent majority, and stir them into action.

“It’s time to get angry, really angry. But channel that anger towards the common enemy. Time to say enough! Time to stand strong and united to destroy this evil,” she said. — BM, GMA News