Philippine President Duterte says female rebels should be shot in vagina to render them 'useless'

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday that female rebels should be shot in the vagina, so as to render them "useless."

Duterte made the remarks in front of a crowd of about 200 former rebels on Tuesday, suggesting his soldiers be given "new orders."

"We won’t kill you. Will we just shoot your vagina so that...if there is no vagina, it would be useless," Duterte said.

The comments immediately sparked a wave of backlash from human rights organizations around the world. Christine Palabay, secretary-general of the Philippine rights group Karapatan, named the leader as a "frothing-in-the-mouth fascist."

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"His recent comments and pronouncements are but the latest of the series of these madman’s display of tyranny, lunacy and machismo," Palabay said. "Duterte has distinguished himself as a frothing-in-the-mouth fascist who incites the worst violations of international humanitarian law."

The former mayor of Davao City has frequently made controversial comments, and the International Criminal Court recently disclosed it is opening up a preliminary investigation on Duterte. He once said he would be "happy to slaughter" his nation's three million drug addicts.

"At least Germany had Hitler," Duterte said at the time.

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But some who are satisfied with this leader are Filipinos themselves.

According to Philippine pollster Social Weather Stations, 80 percent of Filipinos say they are satisfied with the government -- the highest rating in three decades.

Christina Gregg contributed to this report.