Palace on threats vs clergy: Don’t look at us

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte’s critics, not his rhetoric, should be blamed for death threats on Catholic clerics, Malacañang said yesterday.

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,” Panelo said at a press briefing.

“If it’s 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.

In one of his speeches last month, Duterte called on drug addicts to rob and kill bishops, whom he described as “useless.” Catholic bishops are critics of Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.

But on Monday, Duterte warned he would not let anyone harm or kill bishops. He said Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle had informed him of death threats on prelates coming from unnamed individuals supposedly close to the President. Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David confirmed he had been receiving death threats from unknown people since two weeks ago.

“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 spokesman said.

Asked if he thought Duterte should refrain from using “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, 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.

Panelo maintained that Duterte is discrediting “certain men of the cloth,” not the Church itself.

“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 clergy involved in sex abuses.

Asked why Duterte was chiding priests for using the pulpit to hit the government when 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 makes and cracks jokes, that’s OK. 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.

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.”

Threats taken seriously

Bishop David, meanwhile, is taking threats against him seriously – hence his decision to skip the Ka Pepe Diokno Human Rights Award at De La Salle University yesterday due to threats on his life, his older brother sociology professor Randy David said.

“For over a week now, my mobile phone has been buzzing with text messages written in screaming and intimidating capital letters telling me that I was next in line for execution,” the bishop said in his message read by his brother.

“Well-meaning friends who worry for my personal safety have advised me not to take these threats to my person lightly, so I’m begging off from today’s event. What was paramount is that I did not want to unnecessarily endanger the lives of those who would accompany me to this venue,” he added.

Bishop David said the local police had reached out to him to verify and inquire about the threats, as well as offer protection.

And while he is grateful for the offer, he said he found it ironic, given Duterte’s earlier pronouncements against him, including insinuations that he is using illegal drugs.

“Nobody from the PNP (Philippine National Police) then came to offer help for my security after that public pronouncements,” he added.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said he doubts the President’s apparent change of heart.

“One cannot take his words seriously,” said Pabillo. “I hope he is not joking and is finally serious in his statement,” said CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Mission (ECM) chairman Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes.

“Let’s hope he is serious,” said San Pablo, Laguna Bishop Buenaventura Famadico.

Human rights lawyer and senatorial candidate Chel Diokno said the threats received by the bishop are linked to Duterte’s earlier pronouncements, which he described as encouragement of attacks against priests.

“We see a lot of pattern. They say there are no direct orders, but we see a pattern. The President will issue harsh remarks, and then something will happen to those he spoke against,” Diokno said in Filipino.

Vice President Leni Robredo, meanwhile, lamented the culture of impunity as she slammed the threats against David.

“How did we reach this point? We started with deaths due to war on drugs, and then killings of local officials, killings of judges, fiscals and lawyers,” she said in Filipino. “Now it is the bishops. When will this stop and why are we allowing this culture to prevail?”

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), for its part, welcomed Duterte’s latest exhortation against harming religious leaders.

“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,” said CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia.

“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,” she added.

Bishop David and Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa were the recipients of the Ka Pepe Diokno Human Rights Award.

David was recognized for his “unwavering commitment to human dignity and the right of all, most especially of the poor, to live as human beings, in freedom and in peace, surrounded by loved ones in the security of their home.” – With Janvic Mateo, Evelyn Macairan, Cecille Suerte Felipe