PETALING JAYA, Feb 16 — Filipino beauty queen Ruffa Gutierrez claimed yesterday that her two teenage daughters were harassed by a group of men while visiting the Sunway Lagoon water theme park here recently.
In a report by Manila’s ABS-CBN News, she claimed the men catcalled, made lewd gestures and snapped photographs of her daughters Lorin Gabriella, 15, and Venice Bektas, 14, resulting in them feeling uncomfortable until they were in tears.
“My (dear friend) and I were so excited to spend a lovely day with the children at Sunway Lagoon a popular place for kids to enjoy the different theme parks. While the kids were on the roller coaster, (my friend) and I went to buy burgers.
“The kids came back in tears saying that group of old men were taking photos of them and blowing kisses. Literally harassing them,” the model and actress reportedly posted on her Instagram account.
Gutierrez said the men became more aggressive when she when her friends warned them to stop their detestable behaviour.
“We stopped the guys and reprimanded them for whistling and they tried to attack us. We went to the park to have fun with the children and did not realise it’s not safe at all. Shocking,” she was quoted saying.
Gutierrez clarified to Malay Mail that they had requested for security to escort them to their car following the incident. She added that it was the most stressful day of her life.
“I always tell my girls that I trust them but I don’t trust the crazy world around us. Even going to a theme park is not safe anymore,” she said.
Gutierrez also tweeted about the incident stating that Sunway Lagoon should not let “creepy men” inside the park.
Theme parks like @SunwayLagoonMY should not let creepy men inside their establishments!! 😡😠 theme parks should be a safe place for children and families to enjoy their holiday!
— Ruffa Gutierrez (@iloveruffag) February 15, 2018
She said she took her grievances to social media “so that this does not happen to other children and to tourists.”
In a Twitter reply, Sunway Lagoon said: “We regret the unfortunate incident and our management is currently with her handling her complaint. We are a family theme park and we ensure that guests safety and wellbeing is our concern.”
Sunway Lagoon has not yet responded to Malay Mail’s request for comments on the incident.
