Here´s a POV about that rape joke, since na brought out na naman dito ni sis catherine:
THAT BAD RAPE JOKE, DIGONG AND WHY I AM STILL A DUTERTARD
(This is a long post. Sorry.)
By now, the whole of social media and the mainstream media have smelled the rat and have made Digong´s rape joke video viral. If you have not seen it, I will include the link at the end of this post., but first I hope you read through my rather long ramblings first.
A lot of people are now screaming foul. Saying that what Digong said was unforgivable. It is demeaning to women. "This is what we want for president? Someone who does not respect women?"
First let us admit it. THAT WAS A TERRIBLY BAD JOKE, Mayor Duterte. But before we become too quick to judge Digong for what was said in less than three seconds, do we even know the context in which that utterance was made?
1989 HOSTAGE TAKING AT THE DAVAO CITY JAIL
The story really began when a man named Federico Pugoy held up a bus full of passengers in Davao City. At knifepoint, Duterte was able to convince Pugoy to release the hostages in exchange for himself. Pugoy then ended up detained at the Davao City Jail.
In 1989, while in the Davao City Jail, Pugoy and some of the prisoners, took hostage an Australian group of ministers. Accounts showed that some of the missionaries were raped. The hostage taking lasted for 48 hours. An ensuing shootout led to the death of all hostage takers and 5 of the 17 Protestant missionaries. One of them was the Australian woman,Jacqueline Hammil, the purported subject of Digong´s joke above.
That joke made by Digong was crass, foul, and truly bad. And indeed Digong should owe up to that bad joke. But the context of that joke came from the vile events of the 1989 Davao City Jail incident, one of his earliest fights against criminality.
So let´s think for a minute here. We can see the trees ( i.e. Digong´s crass jokes), but did we even stop to see the forest?
I personally would want to Digong to apologize for that joke, but it will not sway my belief in him as a good leader. Hindi naman ako naghahanap ng perfect na leader, sablay talaga sya minsan sa pagjojoke lalo na considering how the semantics of the Visayan dialect can sometimes get lost in the translation to Tagalog.
The woman in me is offended by his jokes, but what matters most to me is the track record he has in protecting women´s rights. In 2012, even while the RH Bill has not been passed, Davao was already giving out free contraceptives. He has passed city directives protecting in women. And the women´s correctional facility in Ma-a, Davao City , aptly called the Ray of Hope village was built, with the help of Gawad Kalinga, to provide the women prisoners a semblance of home and remind the prisoners of what lays beyond. The facility has 10 duplexes, a multipurpose hall, a nursing room and other amenities for children and mothers. Now, do we have anything close to this in Manila or in Bilibid?
So Digong should apologize. For his jokes. But in the grand scheme of things, it is the actions that are more important, more than flowery words or pretensions of decency. I would rather have a leader who slips in his words, than someone who f*cks up his mandate. Or is Corrupt. Or has no track record to speak of.
I am a woman. I am offended by that rape joke. But I am still for Digong, crass jokes, putanginas and all.
