Tolentino on Duterte's jokes: Not a big deal

MANILA, Philippines — Francis Tolentino, President Duterte's newly appointed political adviser, will not ask his boss to stop making jokes in his speeches despite the stirring controversies Duterte earned over his remarks.

In an interview on CNN Philippines' "The Source" on Monday, Tolentino said Duterte's expressions in jest are only part of his "personal line of jokes."

"It's part of his persona. No big deal about that," Tolentino said.

But last May, Duterte triggered international backlash over the rape joke he said before military troops in Iligan City days after he declared martial law in Mindanao.

"For this martial law, and the consequences of martial law, and the ramifications of martial law, I and I alone would be responsible," he said.

"Trabaho lang kayo. Ako na bahala. Ako na magpakulong sa inyo. Pag naka-rape ka ng tatlo, aminin ko na akin 'yun," the president stated, apparently in jest.

Although Malacañang has downplayed the remark, it did not stop the public from criticizing it. Former US presidential daughter Chelsea Clinton's comment, in particular, triggered condemnation of the president's barb.

"Duterte is a murderous thug with no regard for human rights. It's important to keep pointing that out and that rape is never a joke," former US president Bill Clinton and defeated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's daughter tweeted.

Duterte was criticized anew over a rape joke on July 14 when he said he would "congratulate" a rapist who could do the crime even if he knows he would for it.

"What I don't like are kids [being raped]. You can mess with, maybe a Miss Universe. Maybe I will even congratulate you for having the balls to rape somebody when you know you are going to die," Duterte said, while reportedly joking, to Filipino diplomats in Davao City.

Still, Tolentino claimed that the "people are now used to the [rape jokes]."

Duterte's remarks, however, have prompted the resignation of human rights advocate Samira Gutoc-Tomawis from her post on the Bangsamoro Transition Commission.

An association of women's rights also lambasted the president's rape jokes.

"President Duterte, in his most recent rape joke, is preaching to a monstrous choir… Women, especially the poor who have been at the receiving end of such violence, are not laughing," Tanggol Bayi (Defend Women) group said in a statement.

In August 2016, Duterte also threatened to pull the Philippines out of the United Nations international organization after it raised criticisms for his bloody war on drugs. He later on admitted that the statement was a joke.

Over his first year of presidency, Duterte has provoked many disputes for his vexing statements, which were later dismissed by his officials as mere wisecracks.

His spokespersons often said the media takes Duterte's statement out of context and that he is often misinterpreted.

In February, Duterte admitted that only two out of five of his statements are true. The rest are just jokes which he is "fond of doing." A few weeks ago, he also described his statements as sarcasm.

"Gusto ko lang tumawa. Well, at the expense also of myself sometimes," he said.