This Women’s Month began with a troubling reminder that objectification of women still finds its way into the highest political institutions. When public officials treat women’s bodies as subjects of commentary, it weakens the dignity that public office is supposed to protect.
What a way to begin Women’s Month.
I did not expect to write about this again so soon. Yet here we are, confronting another elected official who seems unable to grasp the basic standard of decency expected in public office.
During the last election season, I wrote about candidates who reduced women to objects, punchlines, or props in campaign speeches. I stressed that objectification is not humor. It is not charisma. It is not harmless.
Apparently, the message still needs repeating.
In a public forum at the House of Representatives, Quezon City 4th District Representative Bong Suntay narrated how he once saw actress Anne Curtis at a mall. He described her beauty and openly admitted that he felt desire for her, adding that it would remain only in his imagination.
For an ordinary citizen, such a remark may be dismissed as crude. But for a lawmaker speaking in an official forum, it becomes public conduct.
Words spoken in Congress are not casual conversation. They carry institutional weight.
This is particularly troubling given that Suntay, during his time in the Quezon City Council, was part of the body that passed the Gender and Development Code and the Bawal Bastos Ordinance, measures meant to address lewd, malicious, and demeaning remarks in public spaces.
Yet in the very institution responsible for crafting national policy, he narrated his sexual imagination about a woman. Clearly, he isn’t living what he preaches as a lawmaker.
A female representative later moved to have his statement stricken from the record. Despite this, Suntay insisted he had done nothing wrong. He even suggested that the actress should take the remark as a compliment.
This response reveals the deeper problem.
When men in positions of power publicly narrate their desire for women, three things happen.
First, it normalizes objectification.
Second, it blurs the line between private thought and public conduct.
Third, it signals that women’s bodies remain acceptable subjects of commentary even in political institutions.
This is not about attraction. Attraction is human.
But a lawmaker speaking in an official forum is not a private citizen in a casual setting. When he speaks, he does so with the authority of the institution he represents. His words help define the standards of conduct in public life.
Politics is not entertainment. And Congress is certainly not a locker room.
The fact that the woman mentioned is a public figure does not make the remark acceptable. Fame does not erase a woman’s right to dignity. Objectification does not become ethical simply because the woman is admired.
This incident was not a minor slip.
Language shapes behavior. The moment private thoughts are spoken in an official setting, they become public speech.
When we tolerate this kind of language in political spaces, we teach the next generation that it is acceptable in public life.
When those in power casually talk about sexual desire, objectification slowly becomes normalized.
And objectification should never be normal.
Without accountability, nothing changes.
After years of discussions about respect, representation, and women’s rights, one would hope we had moved forward. Yet progress, it seems, does not sustain itself without vigilance.
Public officials are entrusted with more than authority. They are expected to lead with dignity and restraint. When that standard collapses, laws and ordinances lose their meaning.
Because dignity is not negotiable.
And if Representative Suntay has any regard left for the office he holds, the honorable course would be to step down.
His response so far suggests otherwise.
I can only hope that the Congress Ethics Committee takes action for his crude and very unethical remarks on Ms. Curtis.
