UST HIRAYA, an organization that advocates for safe spaces and gender equality, has assailed Quezon City Rep. Bong Suntay’s controversial statement on Anne Curtis, calling it “a reflection of a broader patriarchal culture that objectifies women.”
During a House justice committee hearing on the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte on March 3, Suntay recounted seeing the actress at a hotel and claimed to have felt a “strong surge of desire” and “started imagining what could happen.”
After drawing flak for the remark, the lawmaker claimed in a media interview that he never saw the actress in person.
UST Hiraya said such comments contribute to the “patriarchal norms” that continue to “diminish” women to mere objects.
“We vehemently condemn the recent public displays of sexism by Alvin Aragon and Quezon City Rep. Bong Suntay. These are not isolated incidents; they are interconnected threads of a patriarchal system that continually reduces women to objects of male consumption,” the statement, posted on March 5, read.
“Using a legislative platform to broadcast sexualized fantasies is a blatant display of institutionalized misogyny. It is deeply ironic and unacceptable that a lawmaker—especially one from Quezon City, which pioneered the Bawal Bastos Ordinance—would violate the very spirit of the Safe Spaces Act,” it added.
In 2016, Quezon City became the first local government in the country to implement the Bawal Bastos Ordinance, which prohibits sexual harassment in public spaces. The ordinance came before the Republic Act 11313 or the Safe Spaces Act of 2019.
In another statement, the UST College of Science condemned Suntay’s “misogynistic” comments, saying lewd behavior toward any gender has no place in today’s society.
“The College of Science stands with the nation in celebrating Women’s Month. There is no place in today’s times for vulgarity against any gender,” the statement read.
Palace press officer Claire Castro, a Thomasian alumna, also expressed distaste over Suntay’s remark, criticizing the notion that being fantasized about is a woman’s “honor.”
“This is exactly a sexual innuendo… I am offended on behalf of all women. Especially when it is being boasted that it is a woman’s honor to be fantasized about. Should one even be thankful that a man thinks lewdly about your womanhood?” Castro said.
“What if a man had said it while standing on a street corner, naked, to a woman walking by, ‘I’m imagining what I would do to you because you’re beautiful,’ would that be any different? If an ordinary person said it, or someone who is supposed to be honorable,” she added.
The Philippine Commission on Women, which is under the Office of the President, described Suntay’s statement as an “declaration of predatory desire.”
Suntay apologized a day after the incident, but insisted that he did not mean to offend. He claimed that his analogy was made in the context of the impeachment hearings.
“The video showed VP Sara, and one of the allegations being used for the impeachment was about her desire and imagination to inflict harm. As I said, desire and imagination are not impeachable offenses,” Suntay said in a recent interview with reporters.
“I stand by my statement. That analogy was not meant maliciously. It was based on the context of the impeachment hearings. It may have been in poor taste for some, and I apologize if it offended anyone, but that was never the intention,” he added.
On March 6, members of the World March of Women, filed a complaint alleging that Suntay had violated the Safe Spaces Act.
The complaint also accused him of breaching the Magna Carta of Women, and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. F
