President-elect interrupts question from television reporter Mariz Umali to whistle and then sing to journalist who asked about his cabinet appointees

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte was on Thursday accused of sexual harassment and disrespecting women after wolf whistling at a female journalist on a nationally televised media conference.



Duterte, 71, interrupted a question from television reporter Mariz Umali on Tuesday night about his cabinet appointees with a light-hearted comment about her trying to get his attention, before wolf whistling and breaking into a short serenade.

Umali continued trying to ask her question as Duterte smiled and some other reporters laughed.

In an interview with her GMA network on Thursday, Umali described his remarks as “improper”.

While Umali said she would not ask for an apology and sought not to inflame the controversy, her journalist husband took to Facebook to criticise Duterte.

“Catcalling my wife is wrong in so many levels,” husband Raffy Tima wrote. “Some jokes are funny and should be laughed at but disrespecting women is definitely not one of them.”

At the same media conference, Duterte created another controversy by saying there was justification for killing corrupt journalists, and that one “rotten son of a bitch” reporter deserved to have been murdered.

Duterte, an incendiary politician who won elections in May by a landslide on a pledge to end crime by killing tens of thousands of criminals, has previously been criticised for comments about women.

On the campaign trail he made a joke about wanting to rape a “beautiful” Australian missionary who had been sexually assaulted and murdered in a 1989 prison riot in his hometown of Davao.

When his daughter reacted to those comments by revealing she had been raped, Duterte described her in jest as a “drama queen”.

Duterte, whose first marriage was annulled and is in a long-term relationship with another woman, has also openly boasted about having mistresses and using Viagra to have sex with them.

Aida Santos, president of local women’s rights groups WeDpro, said Duterte’s wolf whistling was a form of sexual harassment.

“Catcalling treats women as sex objects ... some say it’s a way of being cute but it’s wrong,” Santos said.

Duterte and his aides have repeatedly said such controversial comments and actions should not be taken too seriously: that he is a straight-talker and an authentic character who likes to joke and speak the language of the streets.

They also point to his pro-women policies in Davao, which he has ruled as mayor for most of the past two decades.

However Duterte’s jokes sent messages to society, according to Elizabeth Angsioco, the national chair of the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines.

“His words and actions reinforce looking at women as second-class citizens,” she told AFP.