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A critical essay in response to Rina Jimenez-Davids PDu30 and Pinays

This article criticizes the newly elected Presidents purported discrimination against
females. The first part includes her thoughts and statements on the Presidents actions,
while the second part includes some data, and what the President could do about the
problem. She supports her argument well, although there is one glaring flaw.

First, we all have to remember that the former Mayor and newly elected President is
a very vocal person. An example given by the author is his rape joke a few months ago,
which offended many people, specifically females. It is just that, a joke, not a deliberately
anti-female statement. (It can be assumed that Visayans handle things very differently). He
also seems to change his mind quickly when given a reasonable explanation. An example
would be his stance against K-12. During the month of May last year, President Duterte
belittled the K-12 education system, but approximately. a year after, he states that K-12 is
going to be beneficial, according to the Inquirer.

The President once mentioned that he would take a jet ski and plant a Filipino flag in
the Spratlys, and ask Suntukan o barilan?, also from the Inquirer. Clearly, this is another
one of his jokes, which tells us to take some things he says with a grain of salt. Mrs. David
assumes that his rape joke was intended to be insulting or disrespectful. However, she
refers to it as a joke. Jokes arent jokes if their primary purpose is to offend, rather than to
make someone laugh. Of course, the side effects of this rather crass comment was
unfortunate, even getting ruled by the Commission of Human Rights as a violation of the
Magna Carta of Women, according to Mrs. David. She also assumed that Dutertes separate
inauguration from Robredo, or distancing, was evidence of his contempt for women in
general, not just his lingering hostility to VP Robredo. Aside from his controversial joke, there
is little valid evidence to suggest that he is discriminatory against all women in general. In
fact, his change of heart with Robredo and appointment of female cabinet members suggest
otherwise.

The transition to the second part of the article is very sudden and jarring, as if it was
added after an edit in order to support her argument. There is also an underlying message in
this article: she believes that the President is somewhat responsible for these teenage girls,
and she wants him to do something about it. There is also some hostility directed against
him, which is evident in the first: So despite the dtente signaled by their encounter at the
Camp Aguinaldo grandstand, Im not holding my breath for the emergence of a gendersensitive President any time soon. and the last portion. One sentence in particular is said in
a rather insulting manner: But lets take whatever crumbs of magnanimity fall from the
person of our fearless leader.. Her manner of stating this implies that she thinks the
Presidents act of friendliness with our Vice President is an exception to the rule, a rare
occurrence, which is definitely unfair.

This article is alright. It needs to be more fair and considerate, and she needs to
integrate the data in a more natural manner. Her suggestions are good, although we need to
remember that simple availability might not be enough.