UNITED NATIONALIST ALLIANCE (UNA) standard-bearer Vice-president Jejomar Binay urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to look into reports that Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Australia have been laid off amid criticisms against Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s rape joke.

“I am asking the Department of Foreign Affairs to immediately look into reports that Filipino workers in Australia have been terminated by their employers because of the irresponsible and vulgar remarks made by Mr. Duterte about wanting to rape a dead Australian missionary,” Binay said.

Binay expressed concern over the effect Duterte’s rape joke had on Filipinos living and working abroad.
Some 2.4 million Filipinos are depending on their jobs abroad to provide for their families, according to the 2015 survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Mr. Duterte said he doesn’t mind the opinion of other countries particularly Australia and America. Don’t mind him if he wanted to make fun of rape and murder. Mr. Duterte forgot that millions of our countrymen are working in other countries, and he forgot that it is the responsibility of anybody who wants to be president to place their interest above his own interest,” explained Binay.

Binay said that Duterte’s stubbornness and insensitive ways were indicative of issues with his mental state. Binay was referring to a previous psychological test entered as evidence in the annulment proceedings initiated by the Davao City Mayor’s former wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman.

The test showed that Duterte suffers from “Antisocial Narcissistic Personality Disorder,” characterized by “gross indifference, insensitivity and self-centeredness,” “grandiose sense of self-entitlement and manipulative behaviors” and “pervasive tendency to demean, humiliate others and violate their rights and feelings.”

“Let us not put to risk the welfare and safety of our loved one to somebody who has a sick mind,” noted the opposition standard bearer.

A message from a Filipino working in Australia has recently gone viral after it revealed that around 10 to 50 OFWs from Mindanao have been laid off.

The message stated that the Australian company decided it would no longer renew the contracts of all Filipino workers under its employ after Duterte poked fun at the rape and murder of Australian lay minister Jacqueline Hamill.

“The owner of the company we work for is a very devout Christian and she felt insulted by Duterte’s comments against her fellow Aussie. Our supervisor already told us that the contracts of us 50 Filipino workers will no longer be renewed, that we will be replaced by Pacific Islanders. There were only 10 Duterte supporters in our group. But the rest of us suffered the same fate because of their vulgar idol,” the anonymous sender of the message said.

Duterte earlier said he is ready to severe diplomatic ties with Australia and the United States after their ambassadors criticized his joke about the jailhouse rape of a missionary.

He also told the ambassadors to “shut their mouths,” as controversy continued to rage over his comments in which he said he wanted to have been the first to rape the Australian woman who was brutalized and murdered in a 1989 prison riot.

He said Australian Ambassador Amanda Gorely and US Ambassador Philip Goldberg have no business stepping into the political affairs of the country. He told them not to interfere because it’s election time.

When questioned if his stance could affect the Philippines’diplomatic relationship with the two closest allies, he said, “That’s their problem, not mine. I have never interfered in their elections. If I become president, go ahead and severe [diplomatic ties],” he added.

In his campaign, Duterte called the Pope a (SOB) and promised to kill tens of thousands of criminals, also recounted the 1989 riot as part of his tough-on-crime pitch to voters.

“They raped all of the women… there was this Australian lay minister… when they took them out… I saw her face and I thought, ‘SOB. What a pity… they raped her, they all lined up’,” he told the crowd. “I was mad she was raped. But she was so beautiful, I thought, the Mayor should have been first.”

Duterte was at the time mayor of Davao. He has at times boasted about running death squads, claiming they killed 1,700 people, but also denied any links to them.

Duterte has similarly offered varying responses to the rape comments, with his media team releasing a statement in which he apologized. But on the campaign trail, he has repeatedly told reporters he would not say sorry.

Gorely criticized his remarks recently, posting on Twitter: “Rape and murder should never be joked about or trivialized. Violence against women and girls is unacceptable anytime, anywhere.” Goldberg later agreed with her.

“Statements by anyone, anywhere that either degrade women or trivialize issues so serious as rape or murder are not ones that we condone,” Goldberg said in an interview with CNN Philippines television.

Duterte has repeatedly expressed anger at what he regards as their intervention in domestic politics.

A US embassy spokesman said there was no immediate response to Duterte’s remarks about the ambassadors. An Australian embassy spokeswoman said there would be no comment.

In another warning to the country’s traditional allies, Duterte’s camp singled it was prepared to change foreign policy and start direct talks with China over a long-running territorial dispute.

President Benigno Aquino III has been improving defense ties with the United States and Australia to bolster the Philippines in its dispute with China over the South China Sea.

China claims most of the South China Sea, even up to the coasts of its neighbors like the Philippines which has accused China of “bullying” other claimants.

Aquino has declined to hold direct talks with China over the dispute, preferring multilateral discussions and filing a legal challenge with the United Nations.

Duterte earlier dismissed a complaint filed by the Women Against Duterte with the Commission on Human Rights for violation of the Magna Carta of Women as “foolish” and “silly.”

“My mouth shouldn’t be an election issue. The issue should be corruption. Where is the country’s money? I may have a bad mouth. But that’s the way I am. It is up to you if you can accept me for what I am.”

Despite his dirty mouth, Duterte assured to give the Filipino people a clean government should he win the elections. (MCA)