In Philippine politics, misogyny has become more than a cultural stain—it has been weaponized as a deliberate strategy to deflect accountability. The cases of Quezon City Representative Bong Suntay and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio show how sexist remarks, amplified on social media, can be deployed to shift the conversation away from governance failures and onto debates about gender sensitivity.
When Suntay made derogatory comments about actress Anne Curtis during a committee hearing, women’s groups quickly filed complaints against him. But instead of sparking a sustained reckoning over political responsibility, the controversy was reframed as a debate about “jokes” and “male instincts.” Topacio, a controversial lawyer, stepped in to defend Suntay, dismissing critics as ignorant of the Constitution. He went further, making his own misogynistic remarks about Gabriela Women’s Partylist Rep. Sarah Elago, normalizing sexism as natural male behavior.
This reframing was not accidental. By shifting the narrative from accountability to cultural debates over propriety, politicians and their allies effectively diluted criticism. Social media became the battleground where women perpetrators and online defenders amplified narratives that critics were “overreacting” or “weaponizing feminism.” The result was predictable: accountability drowned in noise.
The tactic worked. Instead of sustained pressure on politicians to answer for their actions, the public sphere was consumed by polarized debates over gender and propriety. Misogyny became a smokescreen, a convenient distraction that allowed politicians to evade responsibility while presenting themselves as victims of political correctness.
The implications are troubling. Organized misogyny erodes democratic accountability, normalizes sexist behavior, and weaponizes gender politics against women’s rights advocates. It is not incidental—it is instrumental. By turning criticism into debates over sensitivity, Suntay, Topacio, and their online allies effectively neutralized political pressure and reframed themselves as defenders of free speech rather than politicians facing legitimate scrutiny.
This is the danger of misogyny in politics: it is not just offensive, it is strategic. And until the public recognizes it as a calculated tool of deflection, accountability will continue to be buried under the weight of sexist distractions.(davaotoday.com)
