Palace: Duterte's anti-Church tirades not to blame for death threats vs priests
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte's critics, not his rhetoric, should be blamed for the threats against Catholic clergymen, Malacañang said Tuesday.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the opposition made a big deal out of Duterte's "hyperbole" that drug addicts should rob and kill moneyed bishops.
"If one is a drug addict, it doesn't matter to him who endorsed. You know, drug addicts are crazy... Their brains have been affected so there is no need for encouragement from anyone to do something bad against a person," presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a press briefing.
"If it's a hyperbole, then it's not an encouragement. It is only the opposition, the critics who make it so. That is precisely why they should be blamed for that, not him," he added.
READ: Duterte changes tune, now warns those threatening to harm priests
Last month, Duterte, whose bloody war on illegal drugs has been criticized by Catholic clergymen, encouraged drug addicts to rob and kill bishops, whom he described as "useless."
But Duterte had to clarify his remark when he was informed by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle that a bishop and some priests had received death threats from people who claimed to be working for the president's family. The president warned drug addicts that he would be their "enemy" if they harm bishops and priests.
Panelo said the president's remark was just a "criticism."
"That is precisely why he warned those who will harm the priests. And he's serious on that because this president is outraged by any kind of irregularity or violation of any law or any threat made against any person," the presidential spokesman said.
READ: Barbs and the Bible: The continuing clashes between Duterte and Bishop David
Asked if he thought Duterte should refrain from making such "hyperbole" to avoid endangering lives, Panelo said: "Our countrymen have been used to this president's style of delivering his responses, his remarks, so I don't see any problem with that."
"When he says that that, we know that he is in a hyperbolic mode. Now, if the critics and the opposition use that, certainly, it will encourage other people," he added.
'Healthy criticism'
Duterte has claimed that his tirades against the Church was his response to a priest who allegedly wished him dead. He has also warned priests against using the pulpit to criticize his administration, saying it goes against the separation of Church and State.
Separation of church and state bars the state from establishing a national religion and interfering in the free exercise of citizens' religious beliefs.
READ: 'Santo Rodrigo': Duterte pokes fun at Catholic 'All Saints Day'
While some argue that the principle prohibits clergymen from meddling with government affairs, the 1987 Constitution recognizes the spiritual dimension of citizens.
The Constitution required educational institutions to "teach the rights and duties of citizenship, strengthen ethical and spiritual values, develop moral character and personal discipline."
Panelo maintained that Duterte is discrediting "certain men of the cloth," not the Church.
READ: Duterte attacks church again, this time over money donations
"I think that's a healthy criticism. It will help the Catholic Church cleanse itself and purge itself from those who are not deserving to be there," Panelo said.
"He (Duterte) believes in God. He prays. He invokes God. You're just referring to certain men in the cloth (who) violated their own vows. Even the pope has become the number one critic of the Catholic Church," he added, referring to Pope Francis' tirades against clergymen involved in sex abuses.
Asked why Duterte was chiding priests who use the pulpit to hit the government even if he was using the presidential podium to slam the Church, Panelo replied: "There's a difference there. When the priest uses the pulpit, that means he's serious. Priests do not use the pulpit to crack jokes with respect to praying for someone to die. That's a different story."
"When a priest gets out of the pulpit and make and crack jokes that's okay. But when you use the pulpit to destroy a person, you are violating your own vows. That is a different story. What's the vow? The vow is to be very good image of the God that they believe in," he added.
READ: Duterte violates moratorium on anti-Church tirades in just a day
Pressed if he thought Duterte could use his position to criticize the Church, Panelo replied: "In the first place, his style was already that even before he assumed the presidency so you cannot be saying that he's using that position. He has been doing that ever since even when he was still a prosecutor."
Last Monday, Duterte predicted that the Catholic Church would disappear in 25 years because of the sex abuse scandals involving clergymen. Panelo claimed Duterte was just expressing an "opinion."
The Palace asked the public to give President Rodrigo Duterte an “allowance for mistakes” as he is only human.
Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Ana Maria Banaag told government radio station dzRB Sunday that the president also gets irritated by criticisms just like other people.
“Tao din lang naman ang ating presidente ‘di ba (Our president is also human right)? He is a working president. He works hard, he gets tired. Sometimes he gets annoyed.”
The Commission on Human Rights says it denounces any form of intimidation, harassment and threat to life after Bishop Pablo David skipped an event to get his human rights award due to death threats.
"Previous statements threatening Bishop David and other bishops with harm, accusing them of pocketing church collections, and ridiculing them publicly may have emboldened some followers to commit atrocious acts, the least of which is to intimidate and threaten our religious leaders. This should be stopped," CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia says in a statement.
"We cherish our civil rights and freedoms. Those who disagree with the policies and views of elected government leaders should not be cursed or threatened," she adds.
The state's human rights body reminds public officials and men in uniform to "defend and protect our hard-earned human rights to life, liberty and dignity for all."
David, who is also the vice president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, has strongly opposed warrantless arrests and extra-judicial killings in the Duterte administration's drug war.
He skipped attending the Ka Pepe Diokno Human Rights Awarding ceremony last Tuesday, February 26, after getting death threats in consideration of the well-being of his companions.
The Ecumenical Bishops' Forum, a fellowship of church leaders from different religious groups, calls out the Duterte administration over intensified efforts to stifle critics, depicting them as criminals and terrorists.
The group's outrage comes amid death threats received by Bishop Pablo Virgilio David and other Catholic priests following a suggestion by President Rodrigo Duterte that bystanders rob and kill moneyed bishops.
READ: Gag orders: When Duterte's 'jokes' are no laughing matter
"Conducive and safe space where dissenters can seek redress is drastically shrinking. Threats to the life and security of Catholic Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, a staunch defender of the innocent victims of President Duterte’s war on drugs, is neither isolated nor can the present administration merely wash its hands off its accountability from this," it says in a Facebook statement.
"No amount of personal recantation and public rhetoric would be enough to protect the bishop from the perils that now overshadow his life."
It also likened the president to a "modern-day Pontius Pilate" who washes his hands "to disclaim responsibility to the lurking danger over the bishop's life."
"Should Bishop David, or any other bishops and priests, and church people, suffer from deadly attacks, we should lay the blame to President Duterte's feet. He cannot wash his hands and claim innocence," it adds.
"Let the members of the Catholic hierarchy be assured that the president means no harm," presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo says in a statement of President Rodrigo Duterte's earlier comments in his speeches that bishops should be robbed and killed.
Panelo: They need not be afraid as we are one with them in their mission in thwarting evil. Those who must be afraid are the criminals, the corrupt, the evildoers, the scoundrels, the terrorists and the drug lords and pushers. | @xtinamen
— The Philippine Star (@PhilippineStar) February 28, 2019
The statement comes after Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, whom Duterte has targeted in his speeches in the past, confirmed receiving death threats.
The Palace has cast doubt on the threats, saying they may have been made up, or were pranks. It has also cast blame on the political opposition.
The Commission on Human Rights welcomes President Rodrigo Duterte's call not to harm Catholic priests, a reversal from a previous remark by the chief executive suggesting that bystanders rob and kill bishops.
"It is the state's duty to uphold everyone's right to life. The president's call to not harm religious leaders underscores the government's obligation to protect everyone regardless of religion, political affiliation, ethnicity, among others," CHR spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia says in a statement.
READ: Duterte changes tune, now warns those threatening to harm priests
"The Commission welcomes this positive shift and hopes for similar statements from the administration especially for those who are deemed critical towards the government. The service and guidance of religious groups must be taken positively especially when it pertains to the uplifting of the plight and dignity of vulnerable sectors."
The Commission on Human Rights says that President Rodrigo Duterte's statements against religious persons "are gravely alarming" and could embolden violence against people deemed as critics of the government.
"Churches and priests, such as in the case of Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Caloocan, work directly with communities and families, who continue to suffer the many forms of human rights violations allegedly stemming from the government’s drug campaign," says CHR spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia.
"Instead of calling them useless, the government must take their concerns as valid challenges from the ground and as means to improve, rather than degrade, protection of human rights of all," she adds.
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