[ad_1]
Actor Robin Padilla.
photo: Starosa Clock/AFP
A Philippine senator has been criticised online after she asked in parliament whether husbands have “sexual rights” over their wives.
That’s the question former actor Robin Padilla asked a prominent human rights lawyer who was invited as a consultant to a hearing on sexual harassment in the entertainment industry.
He also asked what they should do if the husband is “in the mood” but the wife is not, to which attorney Lorna Kapunan responded that they can “watch Netflix.”
Padilla is one of the most popular celebrities in the country who entered the 2022 race and emerged as the hottest Senate candidate in the country.
Padilla, who is leading a Senate investigation into complaints of sexual harassment and abuse in the media industry, made the comments during a hearing on Thursday.
While speaking to Kapunan, he asked if a husband could ask for sex if he was “in the mood” and his wife was not.
“What if your wife doesn’t want to? Doesn’t the husband have any other options? If you find another woman, you can be prosecuted,” Padilla said in Tagalog.
Kapunan said in such cases, husbands should “seek counseling, pray, or watch Netflix.”
He went on to add that some husbands think their wives are there to “serve” them, to which Kapunan responded that “it is not the wife’s obligation to serve her husband.”
Padilla’s comments sparked a flurry of comments online, with one calling him “disgusting.”
One comment on X said: “So, does this mean the wife becomes the husband’s personal sex worker?”
Jose Manuel Diokno, a prominent human rights lawyer, said in a post on X: “Husbands have no ‘sexual rights’ over their wives. Women have equal rights and free will. ‘No’ means ‘No’. It’s all about respect.”
Another X user said Padilla’s comments became an argument to finally legalize divorce in the country.
Eighty percent of the Philippines’ 110 million people believe in Catholicism, which has had a profound impact on marriage and family values. The Philippines is the only country in the world, except the Vatican, that prohibits divorce.
Padilla is one of the country’s most popular celebrities. He rose to fame in the 1990s for his role as the playboy in Robin Hood before becoming an actor.
He was later sentenced to eight years in prison for illegal gun possession, but was later pardoned, resumed his film and television career, and is beloved for changing his life.
His wife, Mariel Padilla, is a Filipino-American actress and model in the Philippines.
In 2022, Padilla decided to run for public office and came in first in the 2022 Senate elections with 26 million votes, which gave him a platform to run for higher office.
– BBC News
[ad_2]
Source link
