Panelo: Bishop's death threat claim should be probed, may be fabricated

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said an investigation should be made into Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David’s claims of death threats as they might just be made up.

In a radio interview with DZBB on Wednesday, Panelo said: “Dapat imbestigahan kung totoo nga. Pero tingin ko, gawa-gawa lang ‘yung mga threat na ‘yan.”

Panelo later explained in a News to Go interview that he meant that someone could be pranking the bishop or the threat could have come from the opposition.

The presidential spokesperson, who is also the presidential chief legal counsel, did not expound on the possible involvement of the opposition, but he said President Rodrigo Duterte's supporters know his style of rhetoric.

"The supporters of the president know his style. The president cracks jokes. The opposition and critics are blaming the president because they claim that he was serious, that the president is making threats," he said. 

READ: Gag orders: When Duterte's 'jokes' are no laughing matter

Duterte shared in a speech that he received a letter from Manila Archbishop Luis Cardinal Tagle saying that priests and David are receiving threats from “someone claiming to be working for the president’s family.”

Duterte clarified that there is nothing of that sort. He also warned those who threaten priests, whom he said have nothing to do with politics, to “lay off or risk dealing with him.”

Duterte’s recent rhetorics against the priests is a far cry from when he suggested in December 2018 that bystanders should rob and kill moneyed Catholic bishops because they are “useless.”

David, in particular, has often found himself at the bitter end of Duterte’s tirades. The president has accused him of stealing people’s donations and involvement in drugs.

READ: Barbs and the Bible: The continuing clashes between Duterte and Bishop David

The bishop denied all allegations, quipping that thankfully, he need not even take maintenance drugs.

David opted to skip the ceremonies for the Ka Pepe Diokno Human Rights Award at the De La Salle University citing continuous text messages “screaming and intimidating capital letters telling me that I was next in line for execution.”

The presidential spokesperson earlier has distanced Duterte’s rhetorics from the threats allegedly received by religious leaders. He instead pinned the blame on Duterte’s critics.

"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 attempted to argue.

Panelo said that people "have [gotten] used to this president's style of delivering his responses, his remarks." — with a report from The STAR/Alexis Romero