MANILA // Philippines resident Rodrigo Duterte came under fire on Saturday for making a second joke about rape, leading a human rights group to brand his sense of humour “sickening”.
In a speech at a military camp aimed at lifting troops’ spirits after he imposed martial law across the southern Philippines, Duterte told them they were allowed to rape up to three women.
“I will be imprisoned for you. If you rape three (women), I will say that I did it. But if you marry four, son of a whore you will be beaten up,” he said.
Duterte, who is notoriously foul-mouthed, also attracted controversy while campaigning last year when he joked about wanting to rape a “beautiful” Australian missionary who had been murdered in a Philippine prison riot.
Among those expressing outrage on social media was Chelsea Clinton, daughter of the former US president and former secretary of state.
“Not funny. Ever,” she wrote on Twitter. In a second post she called Mr Duterte “a murderous thug with no regard for human rights.”
Phelim Kine, a deputy director with the Asian division of Human Rights Watch, described the joke as a “sickening attempt at humour”.
He and Filipino rights activists warned it sent the wrong signal to soldiers that they could commit rights abuses as they enforced martial law in the southern region of Mindanao, which Duterte imposed to quell what he says is a major Islamist terrorist threat.
“Duterte’s pro-rape comments only confirm some of the worst fears of human rights activists that the Duterte government will not just turn a blind eye to possible military abuses in Mindanao, but may actively encourage them,” Mr Kine said.
Gabriela, a women’s political party in the Philippines, also expressed outrage., saying, “Rape is not a joke. Martial law and the heightened vulnerability to military abuse that it brings to women and children are not a joke either.” r Duterte’s aides frequently explain away his most controversial comments as being “merely rhetoric” or comments which only ordinary Filipinos would appreciate.
His spokesman Ernesto Abella said the president had used “heightened bravado” to try to raise the morale of the troops, but his explanation ignored the rape remark.
“He gave his full support to the men and women in uniform, taking complete responsibility for their actions, even exaggeratedly describing crimes like taking a fourth wife,” Mr Abella said.
* Agence France-Presse