This is what our President will never do. You can take it to the bank, President Buhari will not do this… lol. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s mouth has landed him in hot water again, this time for kissing a married woman on the lips in front of thousands of his cheering supporters.
Mr Duterte, known for his verbal outbursts and other antics, has been condemned by critics for the kiss, which took place on Sunday during a town hall-style meeting with overseas Filipino workers in South Korea.
One senator called the act “a despicable display of sexism and grave abuse of authority”.
Mr Duterte sought a kiss from the woman after he called her on stage to give her a copy of a book at the event in Seoul. When Mr Duterte asked if she could explain to her husband that the antic was just a joke, and she said yes, the president leaned in and kissed her as thousands erupted in cheers.
The scene was beamed live by the state-run TV network to the Philippines.
While the woman has defended the kiss and said she was thrilled by her encounter, others said the president went too far.
“President Duterte acted like a feudal king who thinks that being the president is an entitlement to do anything that he pleases,” said Senator Risa Hontiveros, who asked the public not to pass judgment on the woman.
“Even if the act was consensual, it was the president, possessed of awesome, even intimidating, power, who initiated it.”
The left-wing Gabriela women’s party condemned Mr Duterte’s act, which it said underscored his “machismo and misogyny”.
The “macho spectacle”, it said, “alarmingly makes sexual advances against women look right”.
Aside from growing alarm over his bloody crackdown against illegal drugs which has left thousands of mostly poor drug suspects dead, Mr Duterte has come under fire from women’s groups for sexist remarks, including one where he told troops to shoot female insurgents in the genitals during a public outburst against communist guerrillas.
He has also publicly kissed women in the past, including at rallies during his campaign for the presidency.
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