Daily TribuneSome tried to frame Suntay’s ‘kabastusan’ as normal, as though vulgar objectificatiaon was just an ordinary part of public life that everyone should stop fussing over. Others dredged up old photos of Anne Curtis and suggested that she somehow brought this upon herself.
At this point, so much has already been said about Representative Bong Suntay’s revolting remarks about Anne Curtis that I hesitate to add another word. He has been condemned, rightly and thoroughly, by multiple quarters. Even his own wife found it necessary to issue a statement critical of him. His character, or more accurately the lack of it, has been laid bare for everyone to see.
And yet, what compels me to still write about this is not Suntay himself. Frankly, the man has already shown us exactly who he is. What deserves more attention is the very deliberate and very revealing attempt by pro-Duterte personalities to justify what he did using the most backward arguments and crudest stereotypes available. You could practically watch the entire sexist playbook being taken out of storage.
Some tried to frame Suntay’s “kabastusan” as “normal,” as though vulgar objectification was just an ordinary part of public life that everyone should stop fussing over. Others dredged up old photos of Anne Curtis and suggested that she somehow “brought this upon herself,” because apparently a woman’s existence in public can still be treated as a standing invitation for disrespect from men who cannot control their baser impulses.
Then came the familiar cry of “double standard,” with Suntay’s critics accused of speaking out only now, as if that resort to “whataboutism” somehow excuses the present misogyny.
Some have argued, and perhaps correctly, that this is all just rage bait. Stir up indignation, provoke a reaction, consolidate the base, distract from Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment troubles. That may well be the tactical objective. But even if that is the case, the method they chose already proves something important.
They simply do not care about principles.
That is the point. Not women’s dignity. Not accountability. Not respect. Not even consistency. These are not values to be upheld. They are props to be used when useful and discarded when inconvenient.
How else do we make sense of a Sara Duterte who can issue a polished Women’s Month statement about the “dignity” and “empowerment” of Filipinas, while staying conspicuously silent when one of her staunchest allies is publicly debasing a woman?
Worse, she did not merely stay silent. She stood by while her avowed supporters swarmed the target, mocked her, blamed her and recycled every tired excuse used for generations to protect men behaving badly.
“Gamitin lang lahat.” (Just use everything you got).
That, more than anything, is what this episode reveals. So long as they believe some political gain can be squeezed out of a situation, the DDS crowd will say anything, excuse anything, and do anything to anyone. Principles be damned.
The sad part is that this cynical, amoral, purely instrumental approach to gender and politics still finds an audience. That tells us how much further we still need to go. Women’s Month is not just about statements and slogans. It is supposed to be about changing how power works, how respect is understood, and how women are actually treated in public and private life.
Still, amid all the ugliness, there was one thing genuinely heartening here. So many Filipinos pushed back. So many refused to laugh it off, excuse it, or wave it away. So many stood up for the basic proposition that women deserve dignity, period.
And make no mistake, that matters. It means we have moved forward.
But the brazenness of the backlash should also remind us that we have not moved far enough.
