Duterte ‘joke’ latest of rape remarks sparking public outrage

President Rodrigo Duterte is once again at the center of yet another controversy in which he remarked that the high number of reported rape cases in Davao City was probably because there are many beautiful women in his hometown.

"Ingon sila nga daghang rape ang Davao. Basta daghang guwapa, daghang rape (Ang sabi nila marami raw rape sa Davao. Basta maraming maganda, maraming rape)," he said during a speech at the celebration of Mandaue City's charter day in Cebu on Thursday.

A report by Ian Cruz on "State of the Nation with Jessica Soho" said Duterte seemed to have blurted out the remark in jest, but the President's critics were not having it.

This is not the first time that the President made light of the issue of rape.

He first sparked public outrage over the issue during one of his campaign sorties in April 2016.

Below is a rundown of his controversial rape-related remarks, including that one in April 2016 and several others that followed since.

April 17, 2016

A video that surfaced online and quickly went viral showed Duterte talking about an operation against a group of criminals who had raped a number of women. One of the victims, an Australian lay minister, had caught his eye.

"P-- ina, sayang," he said, drawing the audience's laughter.

"Ang napasok sa isip ko, ni-rape nila, pinagpilahan nila lahat doon," Duterte added. "Nagalit ako kasi ni-rape? Oo. Isa rin 'yun. Pero napakaganda, dapat mayor muna ang nauna. Sayang."

Duterte seemingly referred to a hostage-taking incident in Davao in 1989, when 17 missionaries who were visiting were held for almost 48 hours.

Five missionaries were killed along with 16 prisoners during the incident, including Jaqueline Hamill, an Australian lay missionary.

May 26, 2017

A few days after placing Mindanao under martial law in May 2017, Duterte expressed his intention to take responsibility over his soldier's actions.

The President assured the soldiers of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry (Magbalantay) Brigade of the Philippine Army in Iligan City that they had his full support — even, he jested, if they commit rape.

“If you go down, I go down. But for this martial law and the consequences of martial law and the ramifications of martial law, I and I alone would be responsible. Trabaho lang kayo. Ako na bahala. Ako na ang magpakulong sa inyo,” Duterte said.

“‘Pag naka-rape ka ng tatlo, aminin ko na akin iyon," he added.

July 14, 2017

Kids are off-limits, but for Duterte, Miss Universe queens are free game for rapists.

Duterte once again earned the public's ire after he remarked that he will congratulate whoever had "the balls" to rape somebody, knowing they would be punished for the crime.

"What I don't like are kids (being raped.) You can mess with, maybe Miss Universe. Maybe I will even congratulate you for having the balls to rape somebody when you know you are going to die for your crime," he said, implying the rapist would be lynched.

December 19, 2017

During a speech in Malacañang last December, Duterte expressed contempt over the rape of babies, and described drug addicts as "vile" for committing such a crime.

However, he added that during his time, rape victims were beautiful women and were, therefore, worth going to jail or dying for.

"May I be forgiven by Maggie dela Riva? During our time, ang mga niri-rape doon, magaganda talaga... Worth going to jail and worth dying for," Duterte said after signing the 2018 General Appropriations Act and the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act. — MDM, GMA News