“In the first place, there is nothing in the language of the advisory which even remotely suggests that it is aimed at women alone.

It looks like Sen. Risa Hontiveros is either drunk with power, or is prone to making sweeping generalizations and reckless conclusions. She also seems to be an advocate of censorship.

Last week, the Angono municipal police published in its official Facebook page an anti-rape public advisory aimed at preventing rape in its territorial jurisdiction. The advisory carried the title Paalaala Para Makaiwas sa Rape (Reminders to Avoid Rape) and consisted of 10 tips written in Tagalog, translated as follows:

Do not go out on a date with a person you hardly know;

When on a date, do not leave your drink unattended so as to prevent your

If possible, take up a course in self-defense;

Bring teargas or pepper spray or a similar

Soon after the anti-rape advisory came out, Senator Hontiveros and some feminist groups labeled the advisory “gender-insensitive” and accused the Angono police of putting the blame of rape on rape victims.

“Clothes don’t cause rape. Rapists do,” Hontiveros was quoted by the news media.

Apparently, Hontiveros and her confederates took offense at particular segments of the advisory regarding wearing skimpy attire and drinking liquor on a date.

The Angono police must have been so intimidated by Hontiveros and her like-minded feminists that the police chief, Police Supt. Ruben Piquero, ordered the removal of the advisory after two days. The police chief also apologized for it.

Good grief! The Angono police authorities should have kept the post and should not have apologized for it. It was a legitimate, non-gender discriminatory anti-rape advisory. Only the extremely narrow-minded will find something gender-insensitive or objectionable about it.

In the first place, there is nothing in the language of the advisory which even remotely suggests that it is aimed at women alone. Under current Philippine law, both men and women can be victims of rape. Thus, the online advisory should not be construed as pertaining to women only.

Hontiveros’ sweeping statement that “clothes don’t cause rape; rapists do” is specious and misleading. Although it is true that rape does not take place without a rapist, the other premise in Hontiveros’ statement is incorrect.

Under ideal circumstances, one should not be raped simply on account of what one wears in public. Unfortunately, the sad fact is that there are perverts or maniacs out there who are easily provoked into sexual aggression simply by the sight of a scantily clad man or woman. Therefore, what the Angono police meant by their online advisory against wearing skimpy attire is that one should avoid getting raped by avoiding any act which may provoke sexual aggression from the many perverts who roam the streets — including avoiding wearing skimpy attire in public.

Evidently, what the Angono police said is not a condemnation of women, but a general advisory for both men and women to avoid attracting the attention of sexual perverts and maniacs who, on account of their perversion, may end up committing the crime of rape.

As for the advisory against drinking liquor, suffice it to say that the advisory applies to both men and women. Today’s public bars have male and female clientele.

The consumption of liquor often leads to intoxication, a state in which one’s judgment is impaired. A man or woman whose judgment is impaired cannot give valid consent to sexual intercourse. Too much liquor can also lead to loss of consciousness. Obviously, an unconscious man or woman is incapable of consenting to sexual intercourse. Non-consensual sexual intercourse is rape.

By and large, advising a man or a woman not to drink liquor while on a date in order to avoid “date rape” hardly counts as a “gender-insensitive” advisory.

All told, there was nothing “gender-insensitive” in the Angono police anti-rape online advisory and there is no valid basis for saying that the Angono police “put the blame on rape victims” by reason of said advisory. Evidently, Hontiveros and her lynch mob bullied the Angono police authorities into censoring themselves for no valid reason.

If there was anything objectionable about this incident, it was the stupid decision of the Angono police chief to pull out the online advisory and to apologize for it.

Hontiveros’ one-track-minded thinking and knee-jerk reaction is similar to an incident regarding the P100 bill.

In 1987, the Central Bank came out with a new P100 bill. Although the new bill retained President Manuel Roxas on the front, it added an illustration of the flag ceremony held at the Luneta on 4 July 1946, when the independence of the Republic of the Philippines was recognized by the United States. That illustration was based on an actual photograph which showed the Philippine flag going up vis-a-vis the American flag going down.

A senator espousing the same left-leaning views of Hontiveros questioned the P100 bill for including an image of the American flag. For him, the inclusion of the American flag on Philippine money was an affront to Philippine sovereignty. Others saw that the senator only wanted to project the public image of a nationalist.

“Evidently, Hontiveros and her lynch mob bullied the Angono police authorities into censoring themselves for no valid reason.

The misguided senator’s objection eventually dissipated when rational minds told him that the illustration on the P100 bill was based on an iconic photograph which chronicled Philippine history. In other words, the narrow-minded senator shut up only after he was unable to dispute that the illustration in the P100 bill was warranted by the historical record.