MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – It was National Coming Out Day yesterday in the U.S. and other parts of the world.  So to celebrate, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte ‘outed’ U.S. ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg.  Duterte was even kind with his words, saying “What’s wrong if you are ‘gay?'”

Duterte made the comment in Malacañang after the oath-taking of his new appointees and the officers of the Leauge of Municipalities of the Philippines.

This was the second time that Duterte called Goldberg ‘gay.’ The first time was when the American envoy commented on Duterte’s  controversial remarks on the rape of an Australian missionary in 1989.

While Goldberg chose not to comment on this latest ‘outing’ by Duterte, many Filipino LGBTs took to their social media accounts to express disappointment over the president’s misinterpretation of National Coming Out Day.

“Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being gay; ” one netizen pointed out, “what is wrong is when you use the word in an offensive and derogatory way.”

Another said, “it is entirely up to an individual person to come out or not.”

Facing backlash from the “gay” comment, Duterte’s communications team issued an apology, saying, “Sorry, none of us here are gay so we didn’t really know what National Coming Out Day really meant.  We thought it was a day we could ‘out’ people.”

Quite an OUTlandish apology.