Bong Suntay says Anne Curtis should take his remarks as a 'compliment'; apologizes but sees no malice in his statement
Quezon City district representative Bong Suntay defended his lewd remarks about actress Anne Curtis during a House hearing on March 3. He apologized the day after, but maintained he said nothing wrong.
Suntay made the inappropriate comments on Curtis during a House Committee on Justice hearing for impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte on March 3. He pointed out that there's "nothing seditious" in the VP's past statements against her former running-mate, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., and likened them to his own "imagination" and "desire" after seeing Curtis in person.
Later that day, in a video interview with One News anchor Ed Lingao and journalist Manuel Mogato, Suntay dismissed his remarks as an analogy.
He said he was trying to connect his remark to the complaint against Duterte where she said, in 2024, that she imagined cutting off Marcos' head.
"Now, ang ni-raise ni Congressman Rufus Rodriguez, imagination and desire are not impeachable offense. You do not hold someone liable for it," Suntay said.
"Kaya nga sabi ko parang analogy lang 'yan," he said of his remarks about Curtis.
"What's very telling is, ewan ko kung bakit 'yun ang pini-pick-up [ng media]," Suntay continued. "We are [at a] hearing. Everyone should appear to be impartial. We should not censor words just because."
"If you feel that what I said is immoral, then I have to ask, 'Which particular word was immoral?'" Suntay added.
"Don't you think you owe Anne Curtis an apology?" Mogato asked.
"Sinabi ko ang ganda-ganda niya. And I think she should take it as a compliment that I feel and I believe that she's very beautiful," Suntay replied.
Mogato pressed, "...Pero 'yung nag-iinit ang iyong katawan..."
"Mainit dito sa Pilipinas," Suntay said.
"Sir naman. You do know that's not what you meant. Anybody can tell you that," Lingao said.
"You're attributing something that I may not have meant," Suntay replied.
Suntay apologizes but stands by remarks
In an interview with Alvin Elchico on DZMM early on March 4, Suntay apologized to those he offended but maintained that he was standing by his analogy.
"For those who found the statement offensive, then ako ay humihingi ng pasensya sa kanila," he said. "But that was not the intention. My intention was to drive a point."
According to Suntay, he asked to keep his remarks during the hearing on the record as he believed there was nothing malicious or offensive in what he said.
"I stand by the statement that I made, that analogy that I made. But if some people were offended, lalo na Women's Month, I'm sorry for those who were offended. But if you read the context talaga, there was nothing malicious in it. Depende kung nilagyan ng malice nung nagbasa," he said.
His apology, however, did not mention Curtis at all.
In the March 3 House hearing to deliberate on the sufficiency in substance of the impeachment complaints against Duterte, Suntay said that Duterte's past statements against Marcos were "not illegal." He added, "Siguro nagpapatawa lang siya."
Suntay then shared an anecdote of how one cannot be charged over their "imagination."
"Minsan nasa Shangri-La ako, nakita ko si Anne Curtis. Ang ganda-ganda pala niya. You know, may desire sa loob ko na nag-init talaga. Na-imagine ko na lang kung anong pwedeng mangyari, pero siyempre hanggang imagination lang 'yon," the lawmaker said. "Hindi naman siguro ako pwedeng kasuhan dahil kung ano na-imagine ko eh."
Rep. Ysabel Maria J. Zamora then moved to strike his statements off the record.
"There is nothing sexual doon sa sinabi ko. Nothing immoral," Suntay objected.
Curtis has yet to issue a statement on the matter, as of writing.
