Women’s groups and human rights advocates have condemned Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte for encouraging soldiers to shoot female rebels in their genitals, the latest in a series of violent, misogynist remarks.

Duterte, a former provincial mayor, told a group of former communist rebels to “tell the soldiers…there’s a new order from the mayor. We won’t kill you. We will just shoot your vagina.”

“If there is no vagina, it would be useless,” he said, appearing to imply that women are useless without their genitals.

President Rodrigo Duterte told soldiers to shoot female rebels' genitals. Credit:Bloomberg

The President’s Communications Office included the comments in the official transcript of a speech but replaced the word “vagina” with a dash.