Despite rape joke, Filipino politician could be president
The Philippines will hold its presidential elections on May 9. It’s a pivotal vote for a nation that now boasts one of Asia’s more dynamic economies, poised for further growth after decades of lagging behind some of its Southeast Asian neighbours.
In his six-year term, the country’s outgoing President Benigno Aquino III has been particularly outspoken about China and its aggressive moves in the South China Sea.
The next leader in Manila will have to reckon with a region already bristling with tensions, while also trying to ensure that more of the country’s 100 million people see the benefits of its economic progress.
Yet the reason most people in the world are currently aware of the elections in the Philippines has very little to do with geopolitics.
At an election rally on April 12, Rodrigo Duterte, the front-runner in the presidential race, made a crass, shocking joke about rape. The remarks came when Duterte, the tough-as-nails mayor of Davao City on the southern island of Mindanao, was telling a story from a hostage crisis that took place under his watch in 1989.
Inmates in a prison overpowered their guards and took 15 people hostage, including 36-year-old Australian lay minister Jacqueline Hamill. According to eyewitness accounts, she was raped by her captors, had her throat slashed and was shot in the neck when security forces finally stormed the jail, killing 15 inmates. Hamill died.
Duterte recalled the scene at the time in footage that spread rapidly across the Internet.
“I looked at her face — son of a b---— what a waste. What came to mind was, they raped her, they lined up,” said the presidential candidate. “I was angry because she was raped, that’s one thing . . . but she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first. What a waste.”
In the video of the rally, that punch line — Duterte’s cringeworthy gag that he wished he had been the first to rape the Australian missionary — receives a chorus of laughter.
But the condemnation since has been intense, with denunciations of Duterte coming from rival candidates, the Australian embassy and women’s groups. “You are a crazy maniac who doesn’t respect women and doesn’t deserve to be president,” Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is also running against Duterte, said in a statement.
In opinion polls conducted in early April, before he made the rape joke, Duterte, 71, held a seven-point lead over his nearest rival, Sen. Grace Poe, the adopted daughter of a popular film star. Some believe that margin may have narrowed.
After a somewhat bungled and bemused response to the backlash, Duterte offered a full apology on Tuesday.
“I apologize to the Filipino people for my recent remarks in a rally. There was no intention of disrespecting our women and those who have been victims of this horrible crime. Sometimes my mouth can get the better of me,” he said.
But Duterte went on, burnishing his chops as a law-and-order candidate:
“However, I will not apologize for the things I’ve done to protect our people, especially the weak and defenceless, from crime,” he added.