Philippines President Duterte makes another rape joke: You can mess with Miss Universe but not kids

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has yet again made an off-colour joke about raping women. The firebrand president, who has gained notoriety for his controversial comments, was speaking to a group of Filipino diplomats on Friday, 14 July, when he made his latest insensitive remark.

"What I don't like are kids (being raped.) You can mess with, maybe Miss Universe. Maybe I will even congratulate you for having the balls to rape somebody when you know you are going to die," Duterte said, suggesting that the rapist would be murdered as punishment.

On Friday, he was addressing diplomats gathered in his southern home town of Davao where he defended his ongoing bloody war against drug peddlers and pushers. Thousands of drug peddlers are thought to have been killed by both security forces and extrajudicial vigilantes since Duterte took over, raising serious human rights concerns.

Not one to be intimidated by calls made by rights groups, Duterte hit back at them saying: "Human rights? That is b******t to me."

He also recalled how he scorned the then US President Barack Obama when the American leader criticised Duterte's policies. Repeating what he said at that time, Duterte called the former president a "son of a whore".

This is not the first time Duterte has joked about women and rape. His comments have also stoked widespread condemnation in the past. Only in May 2017, Duterte joked that his troops can rape up to three women without impunity.

"You can each rape three women and I will protect you. Do not worry. I will join you. I will... If you go down, I go down. But for this martial law and the consequences and [its] ramifications, I and I alone would be responsible. I am here to say to you, fight and I will pray for you and I will answer for everything," Duterte said while speaking about the Filipino troops fighting in Marawi, the city placed under martial law.