Duterte on rape joke: ‘I apologize’
DAVAO CITY Mayor and PDP-Laban standard-bearer Rodrigo R. Duterte issued a statement of apology on Tuesday after a rape comment in an online video that went viral caused a firestorm that at once threatened his presidential candidacy.
The tough-talking but also gaffe-prone Mr. Duterte — who often boasts of his womanizing and his supposed track record of killings as an anti-crime enforcer — drew flak from various sectors as well as his opponents over remarks he made while stumping in Quezon City on April 12. His extemporaneous speech was captured on video and posted online over the weekend.
In that campaign rally, Mr. Duterte was speaking in retrospect and rather salaciously about the rape and murder of an Australian missionary, Jacqueline Hamill, during a Davao City jail riot in 1989.
Until his statement yesterday, he refused to make an outright apology for his remarks, although he had made a qualified apology “to the Filipino people.”
In a statement with a PDP-Laban letterhead and a photo of a serious-looking, barongclad Mr. Duterte, the mayor said: “I apologize to the Filipino people for my recent remarks in a rally. There was no intention of disrespecting… women and those who have been victims of this horrible crime. Sometimes my mouth can get the better of me.”
“However, I will not apologize for the things I’ve done to protect our people, especially the weak and defenseless, from crime. I know what it can do to the victims and their families. The anguish and pain they cause. The trauma that can’t be erased. I have witnessed these myself numerous times,” the statement also said.
The statement reiterated his position as articulated to reporters on Monday that what he said was blurted out in anger.
“This is why I am angry. I am angry because horrendous things like this continue to happen to our women and children all over our land. And sadly, government has failed to protect them.”
Mr. Duterte then made a plea and a promise should he win the country’s top post.
“If you will give me the chance to lead this country, I promise to all of you that I will protect our women, children and families from the horrors and disorder of crime. I will do this even if I lose my life, my honor and even the presidency.”
“My life is an open book. I am a man of many flaws and contradictions. But when it comes to securing the lives and future of our countrymen and women, you can trust me to do the right thing. I will fight for the people until my last breath,” the statement concluded.
Mr. Duterte’s campaign manager, Mayor Leoncio B. Evasco, Jr. of Maribojoc town, Bohol, said in a statement that Mr. Duterte may have a “strong and sometimes intransigent persona seen in public,” but he “is a compassionate, sincere and principled man.”
“I have known Mayor Duterte as a public official probably the most than anyone, having served as his chief-of-staff while he was still an appointed vice-mayor in 1986 — a good 30 years ago,” he added.
“I can swear to God — the way I took my priestly vows — that he has not taken advantage of his position to enrich himself or any member of his family,” Mr. Evasco said.
Mr. Evasco was an ordained priest when he joined the communist movement, for which he was arrested in the 1980s. He said Mr. Duterte was a prosecutor in his case, although Mr. Duterte’s mother was identified with the political opposition at the time, and Mr. Duterte himself would become a local appointee in the succeeding government of Corazon C. Aquino.
A rival in the presidential race, Vice-President Jejomar C. Binay, was not impressed by Mr. Duterte’s apology. “Hindi dapat bigyan
ng pagkakataon si Mister Duterte na maging pangulo ( Mr. Duterte should not be given the opportunity to become president),” Mr. Binay’s statement said.
“Bukod sa siya ay pumapatay ng mahihirap, wala rin siyang respeto sa kababaihan. Pati ang isang babaeng namatay ay gusto pa niyang gahasain. Hindi mabubura ng isang paumanhin — na halata namang hindi sinsero — ang katotohanan na sinabi niya ito hindi lang minsan kung hindi dalawang ulit pa (Apart from his killing the poor, he has no respect for women. Even a murdered woman he wanted to rape. An apology that is obviously not sincere won’t erase the fact that he made those remarks not only once but twice).”
Interviewed by Reuters, Ronald D. Holmes, president of polling group Pulse Asia, said: “We still don’t know what will be the effect on his numbers in the next survey after his rape comments.”
“Definitely, it will have an impact, so it is still premature to predict a winner.”
The latest survey by Pulse Asia (story on this page) has Mr. Duterte still the front-runner in the presidential race. —