Duterte slams women critics: You deprived me of my freedom of expression

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday hit out at his female critics after he drew flak for advising women to stay away from priests because they also have sexual desires.

Speaking at an awarding ceremony for outstanding female law enforcers in Malacañang, Duterte said he could not remember "disrespecting" and "dishonoring" anybody.

"Basta ako mahal ko ang babae. Kaya nga makita mo naman dalawa ang asawa ko. Ibig sabihin talagang gusto ko ang babae. Hindi sabihin na gusto kong galawin. Gusto ko lang ang babae. It’s not because when I say that I like women that I want to despoil or dishonor," he said.

He also slammed an unnamed writer and accused women critics of depriving him of his freedom of expression.

"You know you women, you deprived me of my freedom of expression. Hindi ko sinasabi sa inyo 'yan but you criticize every sentence or word I say. But that is my freedom to express myself even if I am just a president," he said.

"Do not take me away from the crowd of being a Filipino citizen. Kaya kayong mga gaga kayo, huwag kayong mag-ano. It's the freedom of expression. Kaya sinasadya ko 'yang ganituhin kagaya nito kasi I'm trying to bring you to the limits of despair."

Duterte added: "Kaya kayong mga reject ng pari nagreklamo kayo sa akin, eh hindi ko kasalanan ‘yan. Biro mo na-reject ka ng pari. Eh mga pari naman susmaryosep."

Duterte, in a speech in Sagay, Negros Occidental last Friday, said women should not come near priests in light of recent sex abuse allegations he threw against them.

"The women should refrain from going near the priests because when you are near him, he will just smell the scent of your body. And if he corners you in the church, patay ka, he will court you. Do you know why? It’s because he is a man," Duterte said.

"God gave him a penis. What will they do with that? Will they slap it against the door every morning?"

Gabriela Women's Party Representatives Emmi De Jesus and Arlene Brosas slammed the President's latest remarks, asking why would women take an advice from a self-confessed womanizer and serial misogynist.

Duterte was only sparking anger between women and the Catholic Church, the Gabriela lawmakers said, when they both are finding common ground to make his administration accountable for its supposed crimes.

Various quarters had criticized Duterte for his derogatory remarks against women, including linking women’s beauty to rape, ordering troops to shoot female rebels in the vagina, joking about the gang rape and murder of an Australian missionary, and telling soldiers to rape women in Marawi at the height of the military campaign against the Islamic State-inspired Maute group that laid siege to the city.

He also drew criticism for claiming that he “touched” his sleeping maid when he was a teenager and kissing a Filipino woman on stage during his visit to South Korea in June last year.

Malacañang, however, said that the President is not anti-women, citing the appointments of women to government posts and laws promoting the welfare of women including the expanded maternity leave. — BM, GMA News