PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday slammed some members of the media for allegedly making a big issue out of his “joke” on the short skirt and knees of Vice President Leni Robredo during an event commemorating the third anniversary of Super Typhoon “Yolanda’s” onslaught in Eastern and Central Visayas.
“Yolanda,” the strongest typhoon to hit land in history, slammed into the Visayas on Nov. 8, 2013, killing about 10,000 people and thousands more homeless.
Duterte said his comment on Robredo’s short skirt and knees were “appropriate” and “necessary.”
He made the statement after Robredo took offense at his “tasteless remarks and inappropriate advances.”
Duterte claimed there was nothing malicious in his comment that Robredo did not go to Mass because of her smooth knees.
“Yeah, I said she was wearing a skirt and her knees had no calluses,” Duterte said.
“I said this person doesn’t go to Mass. It is appropriate. As a matter of fact it is good.
“And just to point out something there, you make a big issue about the knee. Is that the trivialities of media? It’s so triDuterte on Tuesday teased Robredo about her love life and implied that he was a viable option for the widow.
Duterte, who is in Tacloban with his housing czar, Robredo for the third anniversary of Typhoon “Yolanda,” said he’d still have a reason to go to Leyte even without the housing projects.
But Robredo said Duterte’s joke was “tasteless and offensive.”
She said his remarks bothered some people.
“Tasteless remarks and inappropriate advances against women should have no place in our society. We should expect that most of all from our leaders,” Robredo said.
“There are larger and more urgent issues we confront as a nation that demand our collective attention.”
