There has been a wave of criticism after Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said he sexually assaulted a maid when he was a teenager.<\/p>\n
In a speech, he recalled confessing to a priest how he reached into the maid’s underwear as she slept.<\/p>\n
Women’s rights group Gabriela said Mr Duterte was “unworthy of his position and should resign”.<\/p>\n
The Philippines president has sparked outrage with a number of provocative comments but remains popular.<\/p>\n
In his latest remarks, he described entering the room of his maid while she was sleeping.<\/p>\n
“I lifted the blanket… I tried to touch what was inside the panty,” he said. “I was touching. She woke up so I left the room.”<\/p>\n
He said he told the priest that he later returned to the woman’s room and tried to molest her again.<\/p>\n
Mr Duterte said the priest told him to say “five Our Fathers, five Hail Mary’s, because you will go to hell”,<\/a>\u00a0according to news website Rappler.<\/p>\n It is common for well-off families in the Philippines to employ maids and many women also work as domestic helpers across Asia and the Middle East.<\/p>\n Mr Duterte’s spokesman has since said that the president had merely “made up” and “added and spliced” the story during his speech on Saturday.<\/p>\n Rights groups in the Philippines have strongly condemned the comments, which were made as part of a tirade against the Catholic Church over the sexual abuse of children.<\/p>\n Gabriela, a political party representing women’s rights groups, said the comments were tantamount to admitting rape.<\/p>\n “Rape does not happen only through penile insertion,” the organisation’s secretary general Joms Salvador said. “If it is a finger or an object it is considered rape.”<\/p>\n The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific warned that the president’s comments put domestic workers at risk.<\/p>\n “Flaunting abusive practices encourages the rape culture and in this case, sexual abuse of domestic workers,” said executive director Jean Enriquez.<\/p>\n More than one million Filipinos work overseas as domestic workers, according to government figures.<\/p>\n Mr Duterte has been a fierce critic of the Catholic Church, which has criticised his bloody drug war that seen thousands of people killed.<\/p>\n The Philippines president has drawn fire for previous actions and comments about women.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, he sparked criticism for kissing an overseas Filipina worker on the lips during a live event.<\/p>\n He also told Filipino soldiers they should shoot female communist rebels in the vagina.<\/p>\n In April 2016, he spoke to an election campaign rally about the 1989 murder and rape of a female Australian missionary in Davao, where he was mayor at the time.<\/p>\n “I was angry because she was raped,” he said. “That’s one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first, what a waste.” His office later apologised.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Latest controversy<\/h2>\n