(from left) Presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte INQUIRER FILE PHOTO; US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg AFP FILE PHOTO; Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Amanda Gorely. Photo from Ms. Gorely’s Twitter page
KALIBO, Aklan – Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday minced no words against Ambassadors Philip Goldberg of the United States and Amanda Gorely of Australia for their statements criticizing his remarks on the rape and murder of an Australian missionary in 1989.
“You’re not Filipinos. Shut up. Do not interfere because it’s election time,” Duterte told about 5,000 supporters who had waited for hours at the Pastrana Park in the capital town of Kalibo.
The two ambassadors to the Philippines earlier issued statements condemning Duterte’s rape joke.
Duterte, who also visited Boracay Island, dismissed the complaint filed by women’s groups against him before the Commission on Human Rights over his rape joke about Australian missionary worker Jacqueline Hamill, who was raped and murdered in 1989 during a hostage-taking by inmates at a Davao City detention center.
“That’s foolishness. Silly,” he told reporters.
Duterte indicated that while he could be criticized and even dumped by voters for his remarks about the Hamill rape-slay, he should not be sued for saying what was on his mind. “I was exercising my constitutional right, ” he said of his remarks about the 1989 tragedy. But he said he wanted to meet with the complainants.
Duterte again defended his cussing in public. “Corruption, not my mouth, is our problem,” Duterte said.
Aklan, along with other provinces in Western Visayas, is considered a bailiwick of the ruling Liberal Party and former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II. SFM