A congressman’s lewd remarks. A pro-Duterte network’s misogynistic machine. A familiar pattern.

After the lewd remarks of Quezon City 4th District Representative Jesus “Bong” Suntay about celebrity figure Anne Curtis, social media became inundated with misogynistic attacks pushed by supporters of the Dutertes.

Curtis, a staunch anti-corruption advocate, has endorsed Duterte critics in previous elections.

Suntay made the remarks on March 3, just when Women’s Month began, as the House justice committee deliberated on the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte. He was the only congressman who voted against ruling the complaint as sufficient in substance. (READ: In 2025, Bong Suntay mounted successful House comeback with VP Sara’s help)

Amid the ensuing outcry and Curtis expressing her disgust, Duterte supporters began blaming her manner of dressing, targeting her outspokenness, and holding no accountability for Suntay. 

Duterte supporters also bashed other women who defended Curtis, attacking the way they dress and their personal relationships.

Data forensics group The Nerve looked into more than 15,000 public Facebook posts for the past six months that referenced Curtis and Suntay. While a huge majority of these posts were about Curtis’ work as an actress, model, and TV host, they also surged after Suntay’s lewd remarks in Congress. 

At least 2.3% of these posts were found to have attacked Curtis and/or defended Suntay, spiking also after the lawmaker’s remarks, The Nerve found. 

Let’s break down the misogynistic attacks in detail.

Women’s clothing ‘revealing,’ and ‘men are always men’

Probably every woman you know has been told to dress modestly to prevent being harassed. So the people say, wearing revealing clothing only serves to encourage men’s fantasies — never mind that women do it for self-expression. 

While having fantasies about attractive people is common, the issue is power and consent.

“[Suntay’s comment] carries an undercurrent that Curtis would somehow participate in, or welcome, whatever fantasy Suntay had imagined. Consent was assumed, not asked for, because autonomy of choice was never considered,” wrote Rappler gender columnist Ana Santos.  

And yet, Duterte supporters used the sexist argument against Curtis after she called out Suntay. 

Pro-Duterte propagandists Sass Sasot and Joie Cruz, in particular, pointed to Curtis’ past photoshoots in swimsuits and similar outfits — arguing that, because Curtis dressed this way, Curtis no longer had the ascendancy to cry foul on Suntay’s statements. 

Their posts have garnered as much as 2,400 shares.

Edna Lovitos-Aves, another Facebook account that supports the Dutertes, posted a particularly vulgar video saying the same thing. Bringing up Curtis’ controversial high-slit dress during a TV show performance in 2013, Aves told the actress to “cover herself” if she “wants respect.”

WOMEN’S CLOTHING AT FAULT? Several Facebook posts blame the manner of dressing of Anne Curtis and her sister Jasmine after both women called out Congressman Bong Suntay’s lewd comments towards the former. The Nerve screenshots

Curtis’ sister Jasmine also became subject to the same attack. After the actress called out Suntay on social media, Sasot hit her back, reiterating her comments against Anne. 

Lawyer and Partido Demokratiko Pilipino deputy spokesperson Ferdinand Topacio also chimed in on his radio show in DWIZ, bashing Jasmine’s swimsuit photos online and insinuating she posted these photos for men’s fantasies.

While these Facebook posts blamed women for how they dress, they held no accountability for Suntay, dismissing his lewd remark as something normal for men.

“Men are always men…. Their libido will always be with them wherever they go, and when they see women in revealing clothing, sometimes they can’t help but comment,” Aves said in her viral Facebook video. 

Topacio also tried to normalize Suntay’s statement in DWIZ, even following the lawmaker and uttering objectifying comments toward Gabriela Representative Sarah Elago.

The episode has become unavailable on DWIZ’s Facebook and YouTube pages as of writing. Still, more than 3% of Facebook posts in The Nerve’s analysis unearthed Topacio’s remarks.

REACTIONS TO TOPACIO’S REMARKS. Several Facebook posts react to lawyer Ferdinand Topacio’s obscene remarks toward Gabriela Representative Sarah Elago and Anne Curtis’ sister, Jasmine. The Nerve screenshots

Attacks on outspokenness

A 2021 study by the Foundation for Media Alternatives reported that women suffer from attacks online, quite often for being outspoken. 

This was what also happened to Curtis — known to be vocal about government issues, as shown in 4.8% of the Facebook posts in The Nerve’s analysis.

An advocate for transparency in government, the actress joined the Trillion Peso March in September 2025 to protest corruption amid the flood control scandal. She also endorsed former vice president Leni Robredo during the 2022 presidential election and the Akbayan Partylist during the 2025 elections.

OUTSPOKEN. Anne Curtis has been outspoken about government issues, as shown in The Nerve’s data analysis. The Nerve screenshots

Another pro-Duterte propagandist, Tio Moreno, threw this outspokenness back at her.

In a Facebook post, he recalled the House detention of Duterte’s chief of staff Zuleika Lopez in November 2024, amid the good government and public accountability committee’s probe into the Vice President’s usage of confidential funds. 

The governance committee detained Lopez after they cited her in contempt for her evasive answers and “undue interference” in the House proceedings.

“Where was the outrage?…. If women’s empowerment truly matters, then it should matter for every woman, not just for those who share the same politics or belong to the same circle,” Moreno wrote. 

His post has been shared more than 15,000 times. A duplicate version of this post by the Facebook page “Tito Roy Vlog” also got as much as 3,300 shares.

‘WHERE’S THE OUTRAGE?’ Duterte supporters bring back the November 2024 House detention of Vice President Sara Duterte’s chief of staff Zuleika Lopez to hit back against Anne Curtis’ outspokenness about government issues. The Nerve screenshots

Another pro-Duterte propagandist, Krizette Chu, previously admonished Curtis’ criticism of the government.

When the actress-host lamented the state of the country in comparison to Singapore in December 2025, Chu called her the “poster girl for the lack of awareness and context and education of many of our biggest celebrities.” She then lambasted Curtis’ endorsement of Duterte critics in previous elections.

LACK OF AWARENESS? In December 2025, Duterte supporter Krizette Chu admonished Anne Curtis’ criticism of the government while lambasting the latter’s support for Duterte critics. The Nerve screenshots

Personal relationships targeted

Mamamayang Liberal Representative Leila de Lima also came to Curtis’ defense, and for it, attacks against her became personal.

De Lima was one of the members of the justice committee who voted to strike out Suntay’s remarks from the record, calling them “unacceptable and disturbing.” At least 0.18% of the Facebook posts in The Nerve’s analysis hit back against the lawmaker, bringing back her past relationship with her former bodyguard-driver, Ronnie Dayan.

ATTACKS ON DE LIMA. Duterte supporters hit back against Congresswoman Leila de Lima after she defended Anne Curtis from Bong Suntay’s lewd remarks. The Nerve screenshots

Duterte supporters made a spectacle out of this back when the Duterte-era House of Representatives probed then-senator De Lima’s alleged drug links, in which Dayan was her alleged bagman. 

No other than Sara’s father himself, then-president Rodrigo Duterte, proliferated this disputed claim. De Lima has been a longtime critic of the former president, known for her investigation into extrajudicial killings in Davao City as the Commission on Human Rights chair back when Duterte was the city mayor.

After the House probe, De Lima was slapped with drug charges, arrested in 2017, and detained for almost seven years. She was released on bail in 2023 and cleared of all drug charges in 2024.

De Lima is not the first woman public figure whose personal life was targeted due to her public work. Robredo and opposition senator Risa Hontiveros, both widowed, were romantically linked to different men over the course of their work. 

Robredo was repeatedly linked to former congressman Jorge “Bolet” Banal, a claim that’s been fact-checked.

In March 2025, The Nerve found sock puppet accounts that spread propaganda against Hontiveros’ anti-adolescent pregnancy bill, baselessly claiming the senator was a mistress of an unnamed man.

Beyond the Duterte network

Misogynistic attacks have “reached a tipping point,” the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women reported. In its study with The Nerve in December 2025, around 70% of women human rights defenders, activists, and media workers have experienced online violence in the course of their work. 

But these attacks aren’t limited to political spaces alone but have also bled into everyday life.

The Nerve found that the attacks, while being shared on Facebook groups that support the Dutertes and their allies, have also reached retail, local, and overseas Filipino groups.

These posts particularly included attacks on Curtis and De Lima, shared by a mix of profiles who have shared pro-Duterte content and whose content are non-political.

SPREADING TO NON-POLITICAL GROUPS. Sexist and misogynistic attacks on actress Anne Curtis and lawmaker Leila de Lima have spread to retail, local, and overseas Filipino groups on Facebook. Here are some examples of these groups. The Nerve 

The spread of misogynistic attacks across various sectors is not surprising, with almost all or 99.5% of Filipinos holding biases against women. This includes Filipino women themselves, a 2023 study of the United Nations Development Programme reported.

Sasot, Cruz, and Aves — among those who attacked Curtis and her supporters — are all women.

“We need to relate this to internalized sexism when they’ve actually bought into these gender norms, thinking of it as natural or inevitable,” said women’s rights expert Nathalie Africa-Verceles in a Rappler Talk interview.

Fighting back

While sexist and misogynistic attacks may persist online, all hope is not lost. 

Around 18% of the Facebook posts in The Nerve’s analysis overwhelmed the attacks online, with people defending Curtis and calling out Suntay and his supporters.

SUPPORT FOR ANNE CURTIS. Facebook users defend actress Anne Curtis against Bong Suntay’s misogynistic remarks. The Nerve screenshots

Many of these posts were shared by fans of Curtis, her show It’s Showtime, and her network ABS-CBN, alongside opposition supporters.

“[Suntay’s remarks] are NOT harmless expressions of respect…. They reduce a woman to an object of male desire, normalizing a culture of harassment that Filipino women experience every day in streets, workplaces, and public spaces,” wrote the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) on Facebook. 

“They are an affront not only to Ms. Anne Curtis, but to every Filipino woman who has been made to feel unsafe by the unbridled language of those in power,” the group added.

PCW’s post has been shared more than 2,000 times.

NETWORKS FOR ANNE CURTIS. The Nerve’s data analysis found these networks of fans, supporters, and advocacy groups that defended actress Anne Curtis against Congressman Bong Suntay. The Nerve

Suntay now faces a complaint with the Ombudsman for alleged violations of the Safe Spaces Act, the Magna Carta of Women, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, and the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability for lawyers. He is also set to face an ethics probe at the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, Topacio may be facing a disbarment complaint filed by Elago for his remarks. – with reports from Pauline Macaraeg/Rappler.com