The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has continued his offensive rhetoric against women, addressing female police and army staff at a conference in honour of them as “puta”.
Speaking at an event celebrating Outstanding Women in Law Enforcement and National Security of the Philippines, Duterte took the chance to take women to task for criticising him.
Addressing the almost exclusively female audience of military and police as “puta” (which translates as “bitch”) and “you crazy women”, the president bemoaned women “depriving me of my freedom of expression.”
“You criticise every sentence or word I say,” he complained.
His speech followed divisive comments last week in which he warned women to stay away from Catholic priests – who have been some of the most vocal critics about his brutal war on drugs – because they might be “cornered” in a church once the priest had caught the “scent of your body”.
The speech had drawn criticism particularly from women, but in true Duterte style, he used Monday’s appearance to double down on the comments. He rejected the criticism, calling women “rejects of priests” and saying “that’s not my fault”.
Yet he also used the event to attempt to demonstrate how much he admired women. “I love women,” he told the crowd. “That’s why you see I have two wives. That means I like women.” The speech was met with light laughter at moments, though mainly silence.
The speech by Duterte is just the latest in a serious of comments relating to women which have drawn accusations of sexism and misogyny.
A year ago he was branded a misogynist and “macho-fascist” after he ordered soldiers to shoot female communist rebels in the vagina. During his election campaign in 2016, speaking about the 1989 prison riot in which an Australian missionary was killed, and inmates had lined up to rape her, Duterte joked he wished he had the opportunity to rape her himself. Last June, while on stage he grabbed and kissed a married female supporter on the lips.
Yet despite his tirade of insults, according to a recent poll carried out by Social Weather Stations in the Philippines in December, Duterte’s popularity remains extremely high, with a 76% approval rating.
Somewhat ironically, his administration scored “excellent” in the area of promoting women’s rights, with a 19-point increase on the last survey. “These figures are loud and clear repudiations of the critics and detractors of President Rodrigo Duterte who have described him as misogynistic,” said presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo.
