“Male fantasies, male fantasies, is everything run by male fantasies? Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it’s all a male fantasy.” — Margaret Atwood, Robber Bride
Male fantasies are everywhere for those with eyes to see. It is found even in the most seemingly innocuous of corners, and it seeps its way towards the very heart of our country’s institutions.
The misogyny that greeted women on the third day of International Women’s Month is neither new nor surprising, yet the contradiction has sparked renewed vigor in advancing feminist perspectives within Philippine politics.
On March 3, Quezon City 4th District Rep. Bong Suntay made a lewd remark during a panel hearing on Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment case regarding ABS-CBN actress Anne Curtis, stating that he became aroused while imagining having a sexual encounter with her.
“[…] Nakita ko si Anne Curtis. Ang ganda-ganda pala niya. You know, may desire sa loob ko na nag-init talaga. Na-imagine ko nalang kung anong puwedeng mangyari. Pero siyempre, hanggang imagination ko lang iyon. Pero hindi naman siguro ako puwedeng kasuhan dahil kung ano-anong na-imagine ko eh,” said Suntay.
Suntay’s remark was stricken from the record but still managed to garner numerous reactions from netizens all over the country. Many prominent figures condemned Suntay for his inappropriate words.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte was among the first to release a statement on the same day, urging the Congressman to take accountability and issue a formal apology, stating that, “His words directly contradict the spirit of empowerment that we have worked hard to build here in Quezon City.”
“[…] But what makes this incident especially troubling is the fact that, as a former member of our City Council, he was part of the body that passed our Gender and Development Code,” she wrote.
This image was taken from the official Facebook page of the Quezon City Government.
Jasmine Curtis-Smith came forward when Suntay’s words first hit the news with her own response, condemning his thoughtless comments about her sister. She stated that this moment was not simply about one female celebrity, but about women all over the world who continue to be reduced to bodies in spaces dominated by men in power.
On March 7, Curtis posted her own response saying, “Mr. Suntay, I won’t spend much time on you. Not because what you did was small but because this was never really about you.”
“Every time a remark like this goes unchallenged, we lower the bar for what leadership looks like,” she wrote. “Any leader who cannot respect women does not understand leadership at all.”
Curtis also announced that she will be seeking legal advice from her counsel moving forward.
These images were taken from the official Facebook page of Anne Curtis
A Woman’s Reality
Imagine this: A man walks along the street and catches sight of a beautiful woman walking in the distance with her eyes fixed onher phone. He stops and stares at her, raking his eyes up and down her body to admire her figure.
After a while, the woman glances up from her phone and makes eye contact with the man, who, upon noticing her attention on him, wiggles his eyebrows and whistles at her. The man watched as she stopped and flinched at the sound, shifting his eyes below to stare at her as she immediately turned around and speed-walked in the other direction.
Such situations seem to be a universal experience for women around the world. Some would even argue in defense of the man’s innocence. No words were exchanged between the man and the woman, and throughout that whole encounter, he never once approached her. But is his lack of contact the only basis for deducing wrongdoing?
According to Republic Act 11313 or the Safe Spaces Act, sexual harassment is defined as “any unwanted and uninvited sexual actions or remarks against any person regardless of the motive for committing such action or remarks.” Using Philippine law as a reference, Suntay’s comments would not only count as sexual harassment but would also be grounds for penalization.
In addition to the ethics complaint filed by Gabriela Party-list Rep. Sara Elago last March 5, these confirm that Suntay can thus be held liable even if no direct contact was made between him and Curtis.
Though as much as this is a legal matter, it is also one that prompts a re-evaluation of the culture that led Suntay to think he’d get away scot free from making such utterances.
A day after he made the remark, Suntay apologized for his comment after receiving backlash online, though he maintained that he was merely taken out of context and meant no harm. During the panel hearing itself, Suntay also claimed he was being censored in light of the motion to remove his words from the record.
“They cannot censure everything because it sets a bad precedent,” Suntay said.
As a political figure, Suntay is granted a platform that immediately lends more weight to his words compared to those of an ordinary citizen. Yet, his inability to see the malicious implications present in making such comments demonstrates the very crux of the problem.
Suntay claimed his words were only a comparison to a statement made by Vice President Sara in an online press conference in the House of Representatives in 2024, saying how “[…] gusto raw niyang putulan ang ulo si Presidente.” However, intent and impact do not always coincide with one another.
It is not the accuracy of his comparison that is being brought into question, but rather, his choice of words, along with his intention of saying them, which reduces women to the objects of men’s desires.
The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) issued a statement last March 4 stating that Suntay’s words are not a compliment as he claims, but rather, “They are a public act of sexual objectification — a declaration of predatory desire directed at a woman, made openly, by a person who holds public trust and authority.”
“This incident is not isolated,” the PCW wrote. “It reflects a deeply entrenched culture that treats women’s bodies and personhood as subjects of male commentary, desire, and control.”
These images were taken from the official Facebook page of the Philippine Commission on Women
‘CONTEXT MATTERS’
Though Suntay’s actions were indeed harmful, such a machismo attitude is not unheard of even within the confines of an official hearing. In fact, phallocrats have long dominated the political scene.
A famous example is the former president Rodrigo Duterte, dubbed as the “Mang Kanor” of Philippine politics, who is often heard making misogynistic remarks, with some even directed towards his own daughter, the current vice president.
Many have succeeded him, such as Senator Robin Padilla, in reference to a comment he made in a Senate panel hearing in 2024 about how husbands should have “sexual rights” over their wives when they are “in heat.”
Even his previously appointed chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, was caught up in a controversy back in 2019 for a sexist remark he made towards Kapampangan women during PDP Laban’s proclamation rally.
Following the public discourse that erupted from this issue, other public figures also surfaced online to showcase their agreement with Suntay’s statements. Noted among them was Atty. Ferdie Topacio, who appeared live on DWIZ News last March 5 to defend Suntay against public backlash.
“Yung iniisip mo ay hindi criminal offense. Kahit anong sama ang iniisip mo, may nakita kang babaeng gusto mong gahasain, gusto mong halayin, gusto mong daklutin…hindi kasalanan iyon,” Atty. Topacio said.
Social media personality, Tio Moreno, also came forward on Facebook last March 3 to emphasize that “context matters” by saying that there was nothing immoral about Suntay’s statement.
Despite not explicitly agreeing with Suntay’s words, Alvin Aragon, the husband of former SexBomb dancer Izzy Trazona-Aragon and someone who has previously drawn criticism for making inappropriate remarks about women, also made a post on March 4, pinning the problem on Anne Curtis as the subject of Suntay’s fantasies, rather than criticizing the congressman himself.
“Kaya Filipino men protect your wife may “Sin of lust” kasi. And Filipino women dress modestly to avoid sexual desire,” Aragon’s post wrote.
Evidently, tolerance to such attitudes has done little to mitigate these pervasive ideas from spreading across Philippine society. To diminish them as harmless banter would be to jeopardize women’s safety, as it polices their retaliation and redefines what is deemed to be acceptable behavior.
Even if Bong Suntay claims that his words were simply a “fictitious situation that he made up,” the damage is done. His wife, Sheila Guevara-Suntay, even came forward to correct misconceptions about her online and clarify that neither she nor her children condone the analogy made by her husband. She offered her sincere apology to Anne Curtis— something the Congressman has yet to do himself.
To some, the act of a woman disowning her husband for making derogatory statements about other women may seem like poetic justice. For others, it comes across as yet again another instance where the woman is made to take the fall for a man’s mistakes.
In Anne Curtis’ response, she said, “I do not accept your non-apology…I do, however, accept your wife’s apology. Because as a wife and a mother myself, I know exactly what she must be feeling — that particular kind of embarrassment, that helplessness, that quiet grief of watching someone choose so poorly in public.”
These images were taken from the official Facebook page of Anne Curtis
The celebration of International Women’s Month was certainly no barrier for men to launch their attacks, but it also serves as a reminder of how women are still regarded in society.
Such pervasive behavior rooted in gender-based inequality is not at all an anomaly; It is one that has its roots both culturally and historically, and Suntay’s actions were but a symptom of a larger blight that has cultivated over time.
As the threshold for leniency towards misogyny seems to get pushed further back, to resist is becoming less of a choice and more of a requirement, and unless measures are made that can truly champion women, society will continue to be trapped in this tired cycle— one that oscillates between offensive comments and half-hearted apologies.
