President Rodrigo Duterte again courted controversy when he kissed a Filipino woman onstage during his meeting with the Filipino community here in Seoul Sunday.
SEOUL — President Rodrigo Duterte again courted controversy when he kissed a Filipino woman onstage during his meeting with the Filipino community here in Seoul Sunday.
By the end of his two-hour speech, Duterte called the unidentified woman from among the crowd to receive a copy of a book titled „Altar of Secrets,“ which exposed supposed corruption in the Catholic Church.
“Huwag ang lalaki, may bayad ‚to. Halik,” the President told the cheering crowd, before motioning to the woman.
(Not a man, this is not for free. [You pay with] a kiss.)
“Handa ka naman makipaghalikan, halika!” he called to her.
(You seem ready to kiss, come here.)
The woman, who was clearly excited, then went onstage with another Filipina to receive the book authored by the late Aries Rufo.
„Huwag kang mag-amen-amen dyan. Halika dito! Ang beso-beso?” Duterte told the woman, while pointing to his pouted lips.
When the woman was about to go down, the President asked her to stay.
„Dalaga ka?“ asked Duterte. (Are you still single?)
„Hindi. Married po,“ the woman said. (No, I’m married)
The President asked the woman if her husband was there. The Pinay said no.
Duterte, through hand gestures, asked the woman if she could kiss him on the lips, and said, „Kaya mo sabihin na biro lang? (Can you tell your husband that this is just a joke?)“
The people in the crowd were cheering while the President kissed the married Pinay.
„Huwag ninyong dibdibin ‚yun. Ano lang ‚yun… pampasaya ng mga tao. gimmick,“ Duterte said.
(Don’t take it seriously. It’s just for fun, a gimmick.)
The incident caused negative reactions from netizens, many of whom found it unbecoming of a President.
Prior to this, the President mocked Catholic beliefs in his speech, while jokingly said about setting up a new religion.
“If God wants me to be President, I will be President. The God that I believe in, ‚yung God kap*tahan yung istorya ng Katoliko, kalokohan,” he said.
“May bago tayong relihiyon, paglabas natin: Iglesia ni Rodrigo tayong lahat. Walang limit, may obligasyon ka sarili, make yourself happy,” Duterte said. — with Pia Gutierrez, ABS-CBN News
