Ramon Bautista respects Davao City decision to declare him persona non grata

Comedian Ramon Bautista on Tuesday said he will respect and abide by the decision of the Davao City council to declare him persona non grata following a joke he made at the city's Kadayawan Festival.

 

Bautista posted the reply on his Twitter account shortly after noon, after Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte told dzBB radio that the city council passed the resolution.

 

"I respect the decision of the Davao officials, and I will abide by it," he said on his Twitter account.

 

Bautista had earlier said sorry publicly for his remarks and reiterated his apology on Twitter on Monday night.

 

In the two-page of the resolution, the Davao City council scored Bautista for his joke describing women of the city "hipon" and for an Instagram post of him posing with three women from the city with the caption "Ito ang kabataan ngayon hihi #Kadayawan #PasisikatinKitaHijaFoundation."

 

"Hipon" is the Filipino word for shrimp. It is a pejorative term used in some circles for rating people in terms of physique and facial features, as most diners only eat the bodies of shrimps and throw away the heads.

 

The resolution noted that "the Women Development Code of Davao City defines Mr. Bautista's actions under other forms of sexual harassment."

 

It further added that "there is a need to let the world know and those that employ Mr. Bautista that he is an extremely corrupt influence to the youth and his abusive behavior should not be tolerated."

 

The resolution added that it would furnish copies to companies that employed Bautista as an endorser. — Joel Locsin/JST, GMA News