President Rodrigo Duterte downplayed the criticisms he received from the people who attacked him for kissing a married Overseas Filipino Worker during his visit in South Korea on June 3.

Duterte answered the reporter who asked the question about the kissing sarcastically.

“We enjoyed it, it was showbiz and everybody enjoyed,” Duterte said during a press conference after his arrival from his three-day official visit in South Korea.

Duterte explained that if his controversial kissing gimmick is pure of malice, he will not choose to do it in front of many people.

“Asking for malice, we do not do it in public if there’s malice. I would pull the woman down somewhere along empty halls,” he said.

He said that the critics might be only jealous on what he did to the lady.

“Ayaw ko makipagpalitan sa kanila (ng halik) kasi bad breath sila, inggit lang (sila)” he said.

Duterte explained that he has already kissed many girls in Davao when he was still a mayor.

“During my campaign in mayorship, I kiss every woman there, lips to lips. Ayaw mong maniwala? Tignan mo footage ng ABS-CBN,” he told the reporter.

He said that there’s nothing wrong with a simple kiss.

The critics have also reminded President Duterte to change their denture.

“Inggit lang sila sabihin mo sa kanila palitan nila pustiso nila,” he said.

The President also avoided answering when asked about the reaction of his common-law-wife Honeylet Avancia.

Duterte also expressed his concern about the reaction of his youngest daughter Kitty Duterte on what he did, so he might let cool the situation first before going back to Davao City.

Following the controversial kissing of President Duterte, several pro-women groups criticized the punisher for allegedly trying to show that he can dominate every woman anywhere, anytime.

The lady who kissed by President Duterte, Mrs. Bea Kim also defended the President saying that what they did has no malice and they’re just trying to make the audience happy.

However, the GABRIELA said that the Kim was not the right person to defend the President from his “misogyny” acts.

“It is also his own perverted way of getting back at his women critics, his way of proving he can dominate women at any time and any place he chooses. It is his way of publicly exhibiting his contempt for women.”
Gabriela said in their statement.

GABRIELA Alliance for Women slammed President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday following the kissing gimmick of the latter during his visit in South Korea.

In a statement that they released, Gabriela said that the lady who got kissed by President Rodrigo Duterte is not the right person to defend the recent action of the Filipino leader.

“It is unfortunate that the woman found it her obligation to publicly defend the act as “no malice”, when it is the President who is duty-bound to explain not only because it was upon his prodding but he is bound, as a public official, by rules of ethics to explain his unruly conduct,” GABRIELA Alliance of Women statement reads.

They also described what the President did as “disgusting theatrics of a misogynist President who feels entitled to demean, humiliate or disrespect women according to his whim.”

Gabriela believes that the recent act of the President is to show to his critics that he can control women anytime he wants.

“It is also his own perverted way of getting back at his women critics, his way of proving he can dominate women at any time, and at any place he chooses,” it said

They also claimed that the President did the gimmick to divert the public from other issues like extrajudicial killings and the rising prices of goods.

“His repeated acts of machismo is meant as entertainment to hide the reality of his rapidly slipping popularity due to the issues of extra-judicial killings, the TRAIN Law and the big-time corruption scandals now plaguing his rule.”

The statement of Gabriela has been released several hours after Philippine News Agency released a video featuring Mrs. Bea Kim, the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) who received a kiss from President Rodrigo Duterte.

Kim said that there’s no malice involved when Duterte kissed her on the lips in public.

“Walang malisya ‘yun. Ginawa lang namin yung kiss parang twist lang ‘yun, pampakilig sa mga audience. Walang ibig sabihin ‘yun, promise,” she said.

Meanwhile, the palace said that the recent action of President Duterte was just a “playful act,”.

“Obviously there is no offended party here. The lady who was kissed has clearly expressed the view that she was honored with the kiss,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said.

“She did say there was no malice in it and I don’t think we should impute any when the woman herself found no malice in it. It was not an issue to the woman so it was not an issue to the president,” he added.

Akbayan party-list representative Tom Villarin sued former Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) lawyer and now Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Undersecretary Jacinto Paras because of an unusual reason.

CCTV Footage shows DOLE Undersecretary Jacinto Paras greeting Villarin. It also shows that he put his phone at the top of Villarin’s gadget. Photo: House of the Representatives.

In his theft complaint that he filed to the Quezon City prosecutor’s office, the fierce critic of the Duterte administration claimed that Jacinto, who’s a supporter of the President allegedly stole his expensive phone during a congressional hearing last March.

CCTV footage shows that Paras already carried the phone of Villarin.

According to the testimony of Villarin, the DOLE exec who’s holding a phone and power bank approached him during the congressional hearing, later on, Paras placed his phone on top of Villarin’s expensive gadget.

“Kayo pala ni Senator [Risa] Hontiveros ang magkasama.” Paras told Villarin according to the complainant.

Paras left the hall together with Villarin’s phone.

When Paras left the area, the CCTV showed that the DOLE exec was already carrying the phone of the lawmaker.

After realizing that his phone was missing, he asked his staff to call his phone, later on, it was answered by a member of the Legislative Security Bureau (LSGB).

It also showed in another CCTV footage that Paras left the phone of Villarin in one of the rooms at the House of the Representatives.

Villarin believed that the intention of Paras for stealing his phone is to gather information that he may be used against Senator Risa Hontiveros who’s also a member of Akbayan.

“Yes, possibly that’s the main motive why he wanted my phone, to get information,” Villarin said.

Villarin pointed out that if Paras only mistakenly took his phone, he will return it to him or surrender it to the authorities and not leave it in an empty hall.

“Kung talagang nagkamali siya, dapat sinagot niya. Nagri-ring eh, pero hindi sinagot, iniwanan lang. Kung hindi sa kanya ‘yun, he could have answered [the call] and said, ‘Sorry, nadampot ko lang.’ Pero walang ganun,” he said.

According to Article 309, any person guilty of theft shall be punished by:

1. The penalty of prision mayor in its minimum and medium periods, if the value of the thing stolen is more than 12,000 pesos but does not exceed 22,000 pesos, but if the value of the thing stolen exceeds the latter amount the penalty shall be the maximum period of the one prescribed in this paragraph, and one year for each additional ten thousand pesos, but the total of the penalty which may be imposed shall not exceed twenty years.

Paras denied the accusations of Villarin, saying that he cannot do such a thing.

The former VACC lawyer is known for filing cases against the government officials who are seen to be part of destabilization efforts against President Duterte.