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Thousands march against Duterte on International Women’s Day
MANILA, March 8, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Thousands of women took to the streets
of Manila Friday in protest against President Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged
misogyny as an exhibition marking International Women’s Day exhibited the
clothes of Philippine rape victims.
Protesters marched on Malacanang presidential palace chanting against
Duterte, who has repeatedly made jokes about rape and said last year that
when he was a teenager he indecently “touched” the family maid.
Presidential aides have stressed that the comments were mere jokes, not
policies, and should not be taken seriously.
But protest leader Joms Salvador of women’s group Gabriela told AFP that
Duterte’s “misogynistic” statements were “unacceptable, be they jokes or
not.”
“Law enforcers construe them as policy pronouncements and they embolden
criminals,” she added.
One woman or child is now raped in the Philippines per hour, a 153 percent
increase from the decade before Duterte was elected president, according to
Salvador.
A small group of policemen monitored the protesters at the palace,
numbering around 4,000 according to journalists on the scene, before the
group marched to a public square in another section of Manila in the
afternoon.
Elsewhere in the city a shopping mall exhibition displayed clothes worn by
women and girls when they suffered “gender-based violence” including rape at
home, in school, at work or elsewhere.
The sponsors said the show, backed by the United Nations Population Fund
local office and which has run since last month, challenges “the idea that
women’s appearance and behaviour are to blame when they are assaulted”.
“The Gateway (shopping mall) exhibit ‘don’t tell me how to dress’ is heart-
rending. Seeing it personally make(s) me feel uncomfortable,” Twitter user
@HAUTEANGELUS posted.
“Terrible, I cried while reading all their stories,” @anabemish tweeted
with a picture of herself at the exhibit.
“It’s a good exhibit. It raises awareness about rape. Women of all ages and
backgrounds can become victims and it is infuriating that some people
trivialise it,” said Salvador, the protest leader.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1621 hrs