Senator Imee Marcos said Saturday that President Duterte was not being misogynistic when he said that presidency is not for women, but only being a "worried" father to his daughter.
Marcos said she understood Duterte when he said that women cannot handle the job of being the country's president. She said her father, former Philippine president and strongman Ferdinand Marcos, also said the same to her.
"'Yong mga reaksyon na 'very misogynistic' daw and 'chauvinist' na not a job for a woman, naintindihan ko yon. Kasi ang tatay ko sinasabi rin sa akin, na si Bongbong ang dapat pumasok sa pulitika, period. 'Yong nanay ko, parati siyang very protective kasi bakbakan yan, eh (Contrary to reactions about the 'very misogynistic' and 'chauvinist' statement that presidency is not a job for a woman, I understand that. Because my father used to say that to me, that my brother Bongbong should be the one to enter politics. My mother is always very protective, because it is a battle),” she said in an interview over radio DWIZ.
"I think it's not out of being chauvinistic, that you have inferior capabilities as a female', but more as a father who worries about pushing his daughter out in into the brutish world of politics,” she said.
"Palagay ko natural lang kasi narinig ko 'yan sa sarili kong ama (I think it was natural of him to say that because I also heard that from my father)," she continued.
In his recent speech in Quezon City, Duterte said he told his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara "Inday" Duterte-Carpio, to not run for president in 2022 as he thought that a woman cannot handle the job.
"I have told Inday not to run kasi naaawa ako sa dadaanan niya na dinaanan ko (because I will feel bad that she will have to go through what I am going through),” the President said.
"Hindi ito pambabae (This is not a job for a woman). Alam mo (You know) the emotional setup of a woman and a man is totally different," he added.
Duterte-Carpio maintained that she will not run for president, telling Reuters that she will not be like her father who belatedly filed his candidacy for the 2016 presidential elections.
"If the whole country does not want to believe (this) then I can’t do anything about it. Not everyone wants to be president. I am one of them," Reuters quoted Duterte-Carpio as saying.
Marcos, who was endorsed by Duterte-Carpio's Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) party during the May 2019 midterm elections, said the Davao City mayor is already too "burned out,” adding that the latter supposedly told her that she no longer wants to be mayor.
"Well, matagal na niyang sinasabi 'yan eh. Sabi niya burned out na burned out na siya, at higit sa lahat, ang liliit daw ng anak niya...Sabi nga niya sabi niya burn out na siya, ayaw na nga daw niya mag-mayor eh kasi hirap na daw siya (She’s been saying that for a long time. She said she’s burned out and her children are still so young. She said she does not even want to be mayor anymore because she’s having a difficult time),” she said.
Still, Marcos did not discount the possibility that the presidential daughter would seek higher office.
"Mahaba pa ang prusisyon baka mapilitan din, hindi natin alam. Ganyan talaga ang nangyayari sa pulitika: Kung minsan talagang ayaw...pero sa bandang huli, wala rin (The procession is still long, she might be compelled to run, we wouldn't know. That's what happens in politics: Sometimes people are bent on refusing but in the end, they change their mind)," she said.
The Philippines had two female presidents so far: Corazon Aquino, who was elected in 1986 after the EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled Ferdinand Marcos' 20-year rule; and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who became president in 2001 following the EDSA People Power II that ousted Joseph Estrada.