{"id":152687,"date":"2018-02-14T01:54:57","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T06:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=152687"},"modified":"2018-02-14T01:54:57","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T06:54:57","slug":"roque-defends-take-prrd-seriously-not-literally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/02\/14\/roque-defends-take-prrd-seriously-not-literally\/","title":{"rendered":"Roque defends: take PRRD seriously, not literally"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(PCOO<\/a>
FILE: Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Jr. (PCOO Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With his controversial statements and remarks, his spokesman once again defended President Rodrigo Duterte to his critics, pointing that he should be taken seriously and not literally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been saying again and again, do not take the President literally but take him seriously,\u201d Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Jr. told the media.<\/p>\n

He was referring to the President\u2019s statement in February 7 that was lambasted by some women\u2019s rights and human rights groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell the soldiers. \u2018There\u2019s a new order coming from mayor. We won\u2019t kill you. We will just shoot your vagina,\u2019\u201d Duterte was speaking in his native Visayan language, recalling an order Davao City\u2019s former mayor.<\/p>\n

In the official transcript\u2019s translation, the word \u201cvagina\u201d was omitted.<\/p>\n

Roque insisted that protecting women\u2019s rights for their welfare is a priority of the President. Furthermore, according to him, Duterte was just angry that communist rebels betrayed his trust by abandoning the government\u2019s peace process.<\/p>\n

Gabriela in a statement labeled Duterte as \u201cthe most dangerous macho-fascist in government\u201d as this remark \u201copenly encourages violence against women and contributes to impunity on such.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlos Conde, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) researcher also said that the latest remark on fire is \u201cjust the latest in a series of misogynist, derogatory, and demeaning statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not the first time for Roque to defend the President\u2019s remarks on women. Earlier this month, he said that some feminists can be overacting.<\/p>\n

(Read: Roque says feminists are \u2018sometimes a bit OA\u2019 on Duterte\u2019s jokes<\/a>)<\/p>\n

According to a story Roque remembered, Duterte was joking about being accused by an international criminal court.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s saying, \u2018Well, I don\u2019t mind for as long as you allow conjugal visits by more than one woman,\u2019\u201d the Spokesman said, quoting the President.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, sometimes, these feminists are really a bit OA. I mean, that\u2019s funny. Come on. Just laugh,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Roque, however, followed that this humor and trait of the President are what make Filipinos love him more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With his controversial statements and remarks, his spokesman once again defended President Rodrigo Duterte to his critics, pointing that he …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":143929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[27302,8324,15350,12364,2444],"class_list":["post-152687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-carlos-conde","tag-gabriela","tag-harry-roque-jr","tag-human-rights-watch","tag-rodrigo-duterte","mauthors-bea-kirstein-t-manalaysay","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}