Category Archive for: kawomenan

kultura

When gender allies are enemies: Liza Diño defends Duterte

It is clear now, more than ever, that President Duterte is a misogynist and chauvinist. He likes to say he loves women — just yesterday he joked that his “expertise” is women, then proceeded to objectify the GSIS employees in front of him — but it’s all just to cloak the fact of a deep-seated hatred of women that is revealed when he articulates how we do not deserve to be in positions of power, how we are to be used for entertainment, how he offers us as “reward” for soldiers, how he condones rape in a time of war (will even joke about it), how we  shouldn’t be too critical and if we are, we will pay for it.

Asking for that kiss from the Filipina migrant in South Korea, on a stage, in front of a cheering crowd, was proof positive of Duterte’s views about women: in that situation he had the woman in the palm of his hand, his position as President assured him that kiss. That we are being told now to forget it, because it was just entertainment, it’s “Filipino culture,” just rubs salt on the wound that is the shameless performance of machismo and kabastusan. 

It is clear that women have had enough, even as there are women who will expectedly defend him, because they are indebted to him, keeping them in positions of power, their salaries coming from taxpayers’ money. But while someone like Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Assistant Secretary Marjorie Jalosjos and her words supporting Duterte is expected, I take umbrage at someone like Liza Diño of the Film Development Council of the Philippines’ (FDCP) — a worker of culture as she is, a gender rights advocate too — defending Duterte by turning women’s rights on its head, discrediting the fight of generations of women against the systemic abuse of power that has oppressed us all.

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komentaryo

ENOUGH

President Duterte has said he would resign if “enough women” protest the incident in South Korea, where on stage, in front of his Cabinet members and the Filipino community, he decided it proper to ask a woman he had handpicked from the audience to give him a kiss on the lips.

The woman said in an interview: “Nag-black<out> ako, hindi ko ma-explain, kinakabahan ako, natatakot, excited ako, thankful. Kasi kahit nasa Pilipinas ka, suntok sa buwan na makikita mo ‘yung President.” She then said the kiss was nothing but a way to entertain the audience – echoing what Duterte said after the incident. But her words highlight a critical fact of this encounter: the power relations between the President of the Philippines, and a female audience member.

It is Duterte’s power as President that made this encounter possible. It is Duterte’s power as President that dictated this woman’s reaction, which the President should have known to handle with dignity and distance: this reaction is borne of the fact of his position. But Duterte decided this moment was about him, and that he would use his power over this woman to ask for anything. The mere fact that he asked for a kiss already reeks of malice. (more…)

komentaryo

Wanda Teo and a pair of designer shoes OR, a whiff of corruption (Part 1)

There is little by way of credibility that explains why Wanda Tulfo Teo is still Department of Tourism Secretary. Especially given a President who keeps repeating over and over: Just a whiff of corruption and you’re out.

With Teo, it’s not just a whiff. But a stench. It’s not even just a stench, but proper documentation about, and witnesses to, the manner in which she handles her position and operates her office. And it doesn’t take a genius to see how incompetent she is, unable to talk about a vision for tourism that is not just about motherhood statements and beauty pageant answers — and we’re talking “world peace” level answers, not even Gloria Diaz responding with “Why, do you eat with your feet?” when a judge asked about Filipinos eating with our hands, IN 1969.

Let’s not even get into what she says though, because what she does, the allegations that have been raised against her, are enough to get any public official fired. This is not one instance, but multiple instances; it’s not just one story but multiple stories. As sacred cows go, she’s the most sacred of them all.  (more…)

komentaryo

Asec #Mocha is correct …

There ARE many, more important, things to talk about, other than her award from the UST Alumni Association Inc. I couldn’t care less about the fact that she was given it, in fact, and it must be said that it is absolutely offensive that the photos of Asec Mocha’s past life are being reposted on social media just to point out that she is undeserving of this award. Seriously: since when did this kind of shaming, as bound to an unapologetic conservatism, cloaked in Catholic righteousness, been acceptable?  (more…)

komentaryo

A Duterte debut: thoughtlessness and excess

There is little reason to think that there is — has to be — anything wrong with a Presidential granddaughter doing a photoshoot for her debut in Malacañang. After all, it is the Presidential home, even as President Duterte has made a big deal about not living there. After all, granddaughter Isabelle could just as well live there, and maybe then a photoshoot in her “home” wouldn’t be such a big deal?

But too many things were wrong about that photoshoot that has nothing to do with whether or not she had a right to do it, or whether or not we could all do the same thing in Malacañang. And it has everything to do with knowing to respect the symbols of this country and its leadership, the symbols of faith, the painful vestiges of our history. (more…)