Women’s group: With sexual assault story, Duterte says men can brutalize, rape women

Women's rights group EveryWoman on Tuesday slammed President Rodrigo Duterte for his anecdote involving the sexual abuse of a maid, saying that it defeats the purpose of celebrating Christmas.

In a statement, EveryWoman lambasted Duterte's story, which he told during a speech in Kidapawan City on December 29—a time when most Filipinos are still celebrating the Christmas season.

"The baby in the manger came to stand logic on its head so that the last shall be first, and the first, last. But the man in Malacañang has consigned the last, the least and the lost to perdition," the group said in a statement.

"Jesus said men and women are equal, honoring women as apostles, persons in their own right.... But the man in Malacañang says men and women are not equal. Men can slander, finger, jail, brutalize and rape women—that’s just how it is," it added.

Duterte narrated a supposed confession between his teenage self and a priest, in which he recounted entering a maid's bedroom and touching her in the genitals when she was sleeping.

The story was part of his rant against sexual abuse by priests, of which Duterte said he had been a victim.

"EveryWoman says NOT ANYMORE," the group declared.

"Standing at the crux of class and gender, the housemaid represents the last, the least and the lost of EveryWoman. And it is for her, most especially, that the baby in the manger was born," it added.

"May the New Year bring justice to the men crushed by EJK and the women profaned by the man in Malacañang."

Gabriela Women's Party also criticized Duterte for his story, saying that they find it "deeply disturbing."

"The maniac in Malacañang has proven that he had no qualms violating the rights of women, people of lower stature and viewed them as his own personal toy," the party said, represented by Emmi De Jesus and Arlene Brosas in Congress.

"This latest confession has brought shame not only on himself but on the entire nation that trusted him to lead judiciously and righteously. He has proven himself unworthy of his position and should resign," they added.

Duterte has long found rape to be a laughing matter, saying that he should have been first in line in the gang-rape of a missionary and declaring that the rape incidence in Davao City is high because there are many good-looking women there.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo dismissed critics of Duterte's words, saying that they are unable to discern "reality from rebuke."

"It is unfortunate that in its zeal to promote its advocacy on the protection of women's rights as well as in its obsession to put the President in a bad light, the women's rights group has lost the ability of discerning a reality from a rebuke on the hypocrisy of the priests who molested him and his classmates when they were high school students," he said in a statement. — Erwin Colcol/BM, GMA News