MANILA, Philippines- The tough-talking mayor of Davao City has broken his silence over his joke remark that has angered many netizens.
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Rodrigo Duterte said he wasn’t joking when he made the rape remark. Screengrab from Youtube. |
Presidential aspirant Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has issued an apology to Filipinos offended by his comment about the gang rape of Australian missionary Jaqueline Hamill during his campaign rally on April 12 at Amoranto Stadium in Quezon CIty.
"I am sorry to the Filipino people. It's my style. It's my mouth, I said it in the heat of anger but listen to the story behind. Wag kayong basta pa-ambak ambak yan,” Duterte said during an interview.
According to Duterte, his controversial statement which earned the ire of numerous Filipinos was not meant as a joke. He insisted that he said it out of sheer anger.
"It was not a joke, I said it in a narrative. I was not smiling. I was just talking plain sense narrative,” Duterte emphasized.
He added: “Yung pagsabi ko ng 'O, naunahan pa ang mayor', that is a bad incident. It was a bad remark. It wasn't a bad joke, it was not a joke. Talagang galit ako nung sinabi ko yun. Ganun ang mga lalaki pag ano. P***o, naunahan mo pa ako. That's a cliche. Ganun talaga. Ang mga gago ganun magsalita. Galit ako at kung mangyari pa ulit yung ganun, baka ganun ulit ang masabi ko.”
(When I said, “they even went first than mayor”, that is a bad incident. I’m really angry when I said that. That’s how men are. ***, you even went first. That’s a cliche. That’s really how it is. That’s how jerks talk. I’m angry and if something like that happens again, I might say the same thing.)
Hamill, a 36-year-old missionary from Sydney, Australia was one of the numerous “prayer warriors” hostaged by Federico Pugoy and other inmates inside Davao Metrodiscom way back in 1989. Hamill was gang-raped and killed while ministering inside the jail.
Duterte came under fire after making the remark: "T***a, sayang ito. Ang napasok sa isip ko, ni-rape nila. Pinagpilahan nila. Nagalit ako kasi ni-rape. Oo, isa rin yun. Napakaganda. Dapat ang mayor muna ang mauna.”
(***, it’s a waste. It came to my mind that they raped her. They gang-raped her. I got angry because they raped her. That’s one. She’s very beautiful. The mayor should have gone first.)
Despite the possibility of losing votes, Duterte said he’s willing to lose the presidency and stressed that he will not die if he does not become the president.
Women-party list Gabriela demanded that the PDP-Laban standard bearer apologize for his remark. However, Duterte said that they can’t make him apologize for something he did that was called for during the moment.
--Mini, The Summit Express