Duterte draws criticism for defending ally’s adultery
MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte faced criticism yesterday for defending adultery by a powerful political ally.
Mr Duterte had said that like himself, House of Representatives Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez — who has made public his extramarital affairs — had “many wives”.
“This is a world of hypocrisy. Who among you here does not have a mistress?” the president asked in a speech on Tuesday night, adding it was “a non-issue”.
The comments drew sharp rebukes in the conservative and mainly Catholic nation.
“All of it is sexist and misogynistic to explain improper behaviour simply by virtue of being male,” Senator Risa Hontiveros said. “It sends a message that undermines the many struggles and gains so far for women’s rights and gender equality.”
Mr Alvarez, the country’s fourth-highest official, is an old friend and political ally of Mr Duterte. The politician made headlines in the past week when he publicly admitted having fathered eight children, six of them with two women other than his wife.
Mr Duterte, in the televised speech to government employees in Manila, admitted his comments defending Mr Alvarez’s affairs were “a chauvinist statement”. “But really there are so many women and you [have] so short a time in this world. My God,” he said. “The thing there is that you’re able to support the children. That’s it.”
Mr Duterte said unlike married Christian Filipinos who are allowed a single wife, Mr Alvarez “never converted to Christianity. So he is not bound by the rules of the number of women that you can have”.
Filipino critics dispute his comments, saying while Muslim men are allowed to marry more than once, adultery is a criminal offence. Mr Duterte, 72, has openly boasted about having mistresses and using Viagra to have sex with them.
His defence of adultery smacks of a double standard, said Elizabeth Angsioco, national chairwoman of the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines. “These are men in positions of power so it’s unacceptable and appalling that they just speak lightly of these things,” she added.