Cover image via Inquirer.net
A Youtube video of Rodrigo Duterte joking about an Australian missionary who was raped in Davao City has gone viral
He was quoted as saying:
"Nirape nila lahat ng mga babae so 'yung unang asolte, kasi nagretreat sila, naiwan yung ginawa nilang cover, ang isa doon yung layminister na Australyana. Tsk, problema na ito. Pag labas, edi binalot. Tiningnan ko yung mukha, 'tangina parang artista sa America na maganda. Putangina, sayang ito. Ang nagpasok sa isip ko, nirape nila, pinagpilahan nila doon. Nagalit ako kasi nirape, oo isa rin 'yun . Pero napakaganda, dapat ang mayor muna ang mauna. Sayang."
As of posting time, there were 204 thumbs up on the said video, and 2,331 thumbs down
The incident Duterte was referring to was the 1989 hostage-taking by Felipe Pugoy, an inmate of the Davao City Police Office. Pugoy — who had taken hostage of missionaries who had visited the DCPO to preach
One of the missionaries detained Australian was Jacqueline Hamil.
According to the 16 August 1989 story, Hamill and 4 other hostages were among the 20 people killed in the hostage drama in Davao City. The Chicago Tribune story reported that Hamill was "raped and had her throat slashed" by a gang inside the jail during the hostage taking.
"Do not make me apologize for something which I did not do. It's a matter of honor… I said it in the heat of anger," Duterte said in an interview of Inquirer.net
Duterte said if he would lose his bid for the presidency, then so be it, but the mayor said he would not apologize for something that he did not mean as a joke to make light of the heinous crime.
"I am even willing to lose the presidency. Do not make me apologize for something which I did which was called for at that moment," Duterte said.
In another story, netizens made their own sentiments on the said issue and called for a 'change in focus'
"But there should be an ethics of crime, violence, and hysteria in the way FB peeps react against the double rape of women that should otherwise be at par with state-inflicted violence–the Kidapawan massacre, Pnoy's neoliberal policies, the 18 soldiers killed senselessly in Basilan, the Filipino soldier who died in the VFA war exercises, the killing of transwoman Jennifer Laude, the killing of journalists and political activists, the continued detention of UP Film student Maricon Montajes and the Taysan 3, and so much much more."
– Rolando Tolentino,
