Manila, February 13: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been criticized for ordering soldiers to shoot female communist rebels in the genitals. Duterte was quoted by The New York Times saying, “Tell the soldiers, ‘There’s a new order coming from the mayor”, the president said in a speech. Recalling a directive, he said he had given when he was mayor of Davao City, Duterte said, “We will not kill you. We will just shoot you in the vagina”.  He went on to say that without their vaginas, women would be “useless”.

Duterte statement on Monday triggered a wave of criticism against the strongman. Human rights watchdogs and women's groups have condemned Duterte recent statement after he said that female communist rebels in Philippine should be shot in their private parts as punishment for fighting the government.  Human Rights Watch said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera on Monday said, Duterte's declaration "is just the latest in a series of misogynist, derogatory and demeaning statements he has made about women”.

In the last week, Duterte in his speech to over 200 former communist soldiers in Malacanang gave a directive of what to do with female guerrilla fighters. Duterte has had a history of making menacing remarks towards women. According to a report by Guardian, Duterte has made a similar statement during his election campaign in 2016. While speaking about the 1989 prison riot in which an Australian missionary was killed, and inmates had lined up to rape her, Duterte cracked a filthy joke saying that he wished he had the opportunity to rape her himself.

The Philippine President has been under fire several times for making misogynistic comments. As per a report by Al Jazeera, during his visit to India in January this year, Duterte told a group of Indian and Filipino business leaders in New Delhi that he would like to attract visitors to the Philippines by offering 42 virgins. In 2017, Duterte told soldiers fighting Muslim armed fighters in Marawi that they could rape up to three women without getting punished.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 13, 2018 03:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).