President Rodrigo Duterte has been branded a misogynist and “macho-facist” after he ordered soldiers to shoot female communist rebels in the vagina last week.
In a speech addressing a group over 200 former communist soldiers in Malacañang ,the Philippines president gave a directive of what to do with female guerrilla fighters.
“Tell the soldiers. There’s a new order coming from the mayor. We won’t kill you. We will just shoot your vagina,” Duterte reportedly said. “If there is no vagina, it would be useless.”
An official government translation of the speech, given on Feb. 7, replaced the word vagina with a dash. The transcript says the audience laughed in response.
Duterte mentioned the Visayan word “bisong”, meaning vagina, repeatedly throughout the speech, although it was later censored from an official Palace transcript, replaced simply with a dash. However, the remarks were recorded as having drawn laughter from the audience.
Last week it was announced that the International Criminal Court were looking into complaints that Duterte had committed crimes against humanity in his brutal and bloody war against drugs, which has seen a deat toll of over 4000. But the President said he did not mind being indicted and imprisoned by the International Criminal Court as long as it allows conjugal visits by more than one woman.
Congresswoman Emmi de Jesus, speaking on behalf of the Gabriela Women’s Party, denounced President Rodrigo Duterte as a “macho-fascist,” and said his “anti-women” remark “takes state terrorism against women and the people to a whole new level”.
She described the president as the “most dangerous macho-fascist in the government right now,” adding: “He has further presented himself as the epitome of misogyny and fascism rolled in one.”
The crude orders drew anger from human rights organisations and women’s groups in the region. In a statement, Carlos Conde, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, called it “the latest in a series of misogynist, derogatory and demeaning statements he has made about women.”
“It encourages state forces to commit sexual violence during armed conflict, which is a violation of international humanitarian law,” the statement added.
>Juthy Saha
