“Instead of holding men accountable for their cheating and abuse, the advice places the burden on women to keep their partners through sexual performance.”

Women’s group Gabriela condemned Vice President Sara Duterte for telling female Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong to be good at sex to prevent their partners from cheating or leaving them, calling the remarks “misogynistic” and an example of “victim-blaming.”

In a video posted online by Filipino singer Jimmy Bondoc, Duterte told the Filipino women in the audience that they should be good at “esmeringhoy,” a Bisaya term used as a euphemism for sexual intercourse, to keep their partners from going astray.

Although the remark drew cheers and laughter from the audience, national women alliance group Gabriela said it should not be dismissed as merely tasteless banter, particularly because it came from the country’s second-highest official.

“Instead of holding men accountable for their cheating and abuse, the advice places the burden on women to keep their partners through sexual performance,” Gabriela said in a statement.

The national women’s alliance said Duterte’s remark reflects the same victim-blaming logic that women face daily, wherein they are made to question what they did or failed to do to supposedly warrant the violence, abuse, or betrayal committed against them.

Gabriela also stressed that the remark is profoundly detached from the realities faced by Filipino women, whose struggles are rooted in the lack of protection, decent livelihood, and respect for their rights—not in any supposed failure to please men.

Read: Citing women’s conditions, Gabriela Women’s Party questions Marcos’ UN statement 

“A woman is never to blame for a man’s infidelity,” the alliance further added.

Bayan Muna Youth also criticized Duterte, saying that even when delivered as a joke, her advice to Filipino women migrants contributes to broader public discourse on women’s rights and gender relations.

“Humor does not remove the responsibility to challenge harmful gender stereotypes, particularly in a country where violence against women, sexual exploitation, economic abuse, and unequal domestic responsibilities remain pressing concerns,” the youth group said.

Gabriela urged women to reject the notion that their worth is measured by how well they serve and satisfy men. The alliance also called on public officials to stop dressing up patriarchal beliefs as concern for women.

Similarly, Bayan Muna Youth also urged public officials to move beyond jokes that reinforce misogynistic attitudes and instead push for concrete policies that uphold and protect the rights and welfare of Filipino women.

“Remarks that reduce women to instruments of men’s satisfaction have no place in a government that claims to protect them,” Gabriela concluded. (AMU, RVO)