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'Like a kiss to a grandchild': Panelo defends Duterte's kiss to married woman

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<figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1432351" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="~//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="~//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte meant no malice when he kissed a married woman onstage in front of the Filipino community in South Korea, his top legal counsel said Wednesday.</p><p>&quot;It was just like kissing an apo (grandchild),&quot; Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo told ANC, adding that he&#x27;s seen women kiss Duterte during the campaign for the 2016 elections.</p><p>Panelo said the woman, as a fan, wanted to kiss Duterte, and the President just kindly obliged. He stressed even the girl said it was just for fun.</p><p>The woman, identified as Bea Kim by the Philippine News Agency, said in a Facebook video that there was no malice in the kiss.</p><p>&quot;The kiss was, to my mind, an endearing kiss coming from a fan...If the woman did not want it, she wouldn&#x27;t have done it. But she did it willingly and excitedly. She was tickled pink. She was tickled pink,&quot; said Panelo.</p><p>&quot;Tayo mapanghusga tayo e. Siguro dapat maging broadminded tayo,&quot; he added. (We&#x27;re too judgmental. We should be broadminded.)</p><p>The lawyer said when Duterte came down from the stage, many people also kissed Duterte. For him, the &quot;lovable and charming&quot; President was just acting like a caring father to the nation.</p><p>&quot;The President is the father of the nation. A father should be caring to his people. And he showed that. Unang-una, siya ang hinalikan,&quot; said Panelo. (The woman kissed her first.)</p><p>Asked if he thinks Duterte took advantage of the situation to kiss the woman, Panelo said no. He said the President was just giving the woman what she wanted.</p><p>&quot;I don&#x27;t think that was taking advantage. I think that was giving in to something that particular lady wanted, to show her tenderness to the President. The President also shared the same tenderness to her and caring,&quot; the lawyer said.</p><div><strong>ANTI-WOMEN</strong></div><p>The kiss has been criticized by several groups, with some saying it is anti-women. But Panelo defended Duterte, saying the President showed care for women when he offered himself as hostage in exchange for the freedom of a woman back in 1989.</p><p>&quot;Sabi nga ni Presidente, &#x27;Sino nga ba ang lalaki ang nagpa-hostage just to save a woman? Ako lang &#x27;yun, walang ibang gumawa noon sa Pilipinas.&#x27; O e di hindi siya anti-woman,&quot; said Panelo.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/03/18/watch-duterte-kisses-pinay-onstage-in-south-korea">WATCH: Duterte kisses Pinay onstage in South Korea</a></li></ul><p>The controversial kiss happened last Sunday after Duterte&#x27;s 2-hour speech before the Filipino community, where he lambasted the Catholic Church.</p><p>The President called the woman from the crowd to receive a copy of a book titled &quot;Altar of Secrets,&quot; which exposed supposed corruption in the Catholic Church, in exchange for a kiss.</p><p>When the woman was about to go down, the President asked her to stay, and through hand gestures asked for a kiss on the lips after asking her if she could tell her husband it was just for fun.</p><div><strong>NO MALICE</strong></div><p>On Tuesday the President also brushed aside criticism over the controversial kiss.</p><p>“Ah, we enjoyed it! It was ‘showbiz’ and everybody enjoyed it,” the President said of his kiss with the woman identified as Bea Kim.</p><p>He added he would not have kissed Kim in public if “there was malice” in it.</p><p>“I would pull the woman down somewhere along an empty hall [instead],” he said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/06/18/duterte-on-kiss-with-woman-we-enjoyed-it">Duterte on kiss with woman: ‘We enjoyed it’</a></li></ul><p>He noted that when he campaigned for mayor of Davao, there were many women that he kissed full on the lips.</p><p>Duterte also lashed out at his critics, saying “inggit lang kayo (you are just envious).”</p><p>“That’s my style. Find your own. There’s nothing wrong in a simple kiss,” he said.</p><p>The President has a common-law wife, Honeylet Avanceña. They have a daughter, Veronica. His marriage to Elizabeth Zimmerman, mother of his three children — Paolo, Sara, and Sebastian — was annulled in 2000.</p>

<p>President Rodrigo Duterte meant no malice when he kissed a married woman onstage in front of the Filipino community in South Korea, his top legal counsel said Wednesday.</p>

President Rodrigo Duterte meant no malice when he kissed a married woman onstage in front of the Filipino community in South Korea, his top legal counsel said Wednesday.