By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – A group of youth leaders, artists, and members of the academe called out former police chief and now senatorial aspirant Ronald Dela Rosa over his “joke” that one needs to kiss a Kapampangan to learn the language as he addressed the vote-rich province of Pampanga today, the first day of electoral campaign.
In his speech, Dela Rosa shared that a Kapampangan, which refers both to language and people who hailed from Pampanga province, turned him down during his days as a student of the Philippine Military Academy. This, he said, resulted to him not knowing how to speak the language.
“Passing this off as a joke and laughing matter further normalizes sexual harassment against women! Filipinos dont need an electoral candidate that has a foul mouth and disrepects women,” Kontra Bastos sa Eleksyon said in a Facebook post today, Feb. 12.
This, however, is not new these days. No less than President Rodrigo Duterte, himself, has been repeatedly assailed for his speeches, which his critics found misogynistic.
Dela Rosa is part of the 13-slate senatorial candidates of Hugpong ng Pagbabago, which was initiated by Duterte’s daughter and Davao city mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
He also served as the chief implementor of President Duterte’s war against illegal drugs, which killed about 20,000 suspected poor users and peddlers. A charge in relation to the drug-related killing is currently pending before the prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court. 
