President Duterte has exposed himself in his vaunt about commanding soldiers to shoot women rebels in their private part.
Mr. Duterte’s yarn is not amusing and not a fitting joke. Mocking women and making lewd remarks against them prove his fascist offensiveness. He is deliberately indifferent to women’s sufferings in as much as he is uncaring of people’s adversities. And he dissolutely promotes chauvinism and violence against women.
In reducing women to their genitalia, Mr. Duterte is demonstrating how his macho-fascist leadership belittles women. He also exposes the grave insolence of his tyrant regime to the basic rights and lives of women and poor Filipinos. Women are particularly affected by his tyrant and antipoor policies such
as encouraging extrajudicial killings, implementing the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, imposing martial law in Mindanao and others.
Mr. Duterte is waging a war to defend US imperialism and exterminate people’s dissension. The women who joined the New People’s Army oppose this war and they courageously fight in order to emancipate not just themselves but other oppressed Filipinos. They are determined to win the struggle, achieve a just society and build a better life for all.
It is a right of every woman to struggle against an oppressive state.
KA DENCIO MADRIGAL, spokesperson, Valentin Palamine Regional Operations Command, Far South Mindanao Region, New People’s Army