A longtime mayor of Davao City on the island of Mindanao, he's a leading contender to be the next president of the Philippines based on his tough-on-crime platform.

Here's video of him filmed earlier this month making a joke about an Australian woman who was raped and killed in his city back in 1989. He said it was "a waste" that he didn't get to rape her first.

Hamill was raped and had her throat slashed during the uprising, and was killed when police stormed the jail .

The incident Duterte is referring to involved prisoners who took over a local jail where Jacqueline Hamill was working as a missionary.

Neither did Robin Haines Merrill, who worked as a missionary in the Philippines at the same time as Hamill.

"It is distasteful and unacceptable, and reflects his disrespect for women," Poe said, according to CNN Philippines. "No one, whoever she is and whatever her looks may be, deserves to be raped and abused. Rape is a crime and no laughing matter. We should all be outraged at abuses against women."

Mar Roxas, another presidential contender, also said the incident was no "laughing matter."

"Anyone who laughs at the ultimate assault on the dignity of women should not be allowed to wield power," he said. "A woman has rights; she is not a toy to be played with. This is not a laughing matter, this is an act of savagery."