ROQUE BLAMES CHURCH
Official says Catholic Church shouldn’t be onion-skinned; it has been criticizing president since day one
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. on Wednesday, June 27, said that Catholic Church leaders are to blame for President Rodrigo Duterte’s offensive remarks against their religion.
They should not be onion-skinned when the President hurls insults at them because they have been criticizing the President since he assumed office in 2016, Roque said in a radio interview Wednesday.
“It is true that the President said something against the Catholic Church. But for the past two years, the church has also thrown scathing remarks against the President,” Duterte’s mouthpiece said in a radio interview.
“Do not be onion-skinned. It is unfair if only the Catholic Church can hurl criticisms against the President, and when the President criticizes them, it seems that they could not accept it,” he added.
The dominant Catholic Church has become the target of the firebrand President’s tongue-lashing since its leadership criticized his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs.
There has been no let-up in Duterte’s tirades against the Church, despite calls for him to stop amid apprehensions that these have encouraged attacks against Catholic priests.
Three Catholic priests have been shot dead in the last six months.
In his recent impromptu speeches, the President stepped up attacks against the Church by mocking the creation story and calling their God stupid.
On Tuesday, the President said he was deliberately being offensive and testing the limits of decency because “this country is in doldrums” and he needed to shake the nation awake.
Malacañang earlier justified Duterte’s rants, saying he was molested by a Catholic priest when he was a high school student of Jesuit-run Ateneo de Davao University.
Roque had suggested that the Catholic Church apologize to Duterte and other victims of sexual abuse committed by priests.
Despite Duterte’s anti-Catholic remarks, the President formed on Monday, June 25, a three-man committee to sit down with leaders of various religious groups, especially the Catholic Church, for a dialogue.
The panel is composed of Roque, self-proclaimed civic leader Pastor Saycon, and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ernesto Abella.
Roque said the committee expects to have an “open, frank, and candid” dialogue with religious leaders.
“Let’s see how the two institutions (the government and the church) can help each other. And let’s see how the misunderstandings will be resolved,” the Palace official said.