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Palace on Duterte’s sex jokes at typhoon briefing: President wanted to lighten mood
By VIRGIL LOPEZ, GMA NewsPresident Rodrigo Duterte’s sex jokes during Sunday’s situation briefing in typhoon-hit Camarines Sur were meant to “lighten the mood” as the nation deals with the destruction caused by successive storms, Malacañang said Monday.
Duterte and attendees to a briefing on the government’s typhoon response in Camarines Sur exchanged jokes about being “undersexed,” a remark Vice President Leni Robredo said was a case of bad communication
amid a calamity. Gabriela Women's Party Representative Arlene Brosas also called out Duterte for "still having the audacity to blabber inappropriate jokes when people literally drowned and died due to the series of calamities.”
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"Instead of dropping sexist remarks, the government should double time in providing emergency assistance. [He] should also apologize and explain its lack of preparedness and inadequate response tantamount to criminal neglect," Brosas added.
Speaking at a news conference, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque asked the public not to “read anything beyond the fact that the President wants to more or less lighten the mood.”
“Alam mo talagang ugali na ng Filipino na bagama’t marami tayong pagsubok eh sinusubukan pa rin natin na i-lighten iyong ating mga problema,” he said.
“Hindi lang naman po iyan gawain ng ating Presidente bagama’t matagal na po iyan nangyayari na talagang hindi ninyo ipagkakait sa kaniya na dahil sunud-sunod ang nakikita niyang trahedya eh kahit papaano humanap ng dahilan para magkaroon ng konting break from—iyong mga kalamidad na binibisita niya.”
The jokes came in a briefing held in the wake of a series of typhoons hitting the Bicol region over the past few weeks, with the latest, Ulysses, claiming at least 67 lives across the Philippines.
Duterte has previously come under fire for inappropriate and sexist jokes during official events. The Palace just brushed off the criticism and said the President is not anti-women.—AOL, GMA News