Look beyond Duterte’s expletives, Ateneo president tells Church leaders

DAVAO CITY – The president of Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) yesterday called on incoming president Rodrigo Duterte and church leaders to stop the “rhetoric” and strike a path toward reconciliation because “a rift between them would not necessarily be in the interest of the country.”

“I have great respect for the CBCP (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines). I have great respect for (Davao City) Mayor Digong. I think that it would be good if we might be guided by the spirit that we mentioned soon after the election. That now is the time for healing,” Fr. Joel Tabora

S. J. said in a press conference held at the AdDU here.

Tabora also called on the church leaders to look beyond Duterte’s “expletives” and often crass way of articulating what he was thinking of.

In his bid to arrest escalating friction between the incoming president and the CBCP, Tabora proposed that it would be best if “everybody let Duterte form his government, perform, and actually show how he is going to bring about the change he promises.”

“I don’t think we have to second guess (Duterte) on everything,” he said.

Tabora pointed out that, at this point, none of the two sides seems to be backing down.

“(Duterte) is saying I’m not saint, but you’re (Church leaders) not saints either, Tabora noted.

As a result, Tabora said the rift between Duterte and the church could deteriorate into a situation where in “if you continue to knock me down, I’m going to knock you down, and I’m going to knock you down more.”

“Maybe instead of knocking me down, we should work together,” he said. “It’s better to recognize the achievement that this man (Duterte) has in reaching out and helping the poor.”

But Tabora, who has been president of AdDU since June 2011, tried to explain Duterte’s criticisms of the church, saying that “Mayor Digong was delivering an important message to the Catholic Church.”

“And I think the message is (what) he had delivered to the Filipino people in general. That the poor, the excluded, the marginalized have to be taken seriously, and that the church, which proclaims to be church of the poor, may have fallen short in fulfilling the expectations first of the church, then of the poor, in serving the needs of the poor adequately,” Tabora explained.

“I think beyond the colorful words that we get from Mayor Digong, and his statements, expletives, he has shown himself to be clearly a man of the poor. This is what the people admire in him so greatly,” Tabora said.

“It’s unfortunate that the language is that a rift seems (to be brewing). I think that the position Mr. Duterte is taking can be interpreted to be a very powerful, prophetic position. (He is also) trying to help the church to reflect on itself and its own ability to be the church of the poor, that it had for many years proclaimed itself to be,” he added.

As such, the AdDU president said that “if there should be a dialogue between Duterte and the bishops, it should be in terms of how we can help one another to help the poor.”

But when asked if he would be willing to broker a reconciliation between the incoming president and the leaders of the Catholic Church, Tabora said he did not think that neither the camp of Duterte nor the bishops would come to him to do so.

“I don’t think I would be asked to do that. I don’t think that would be my role,” Tabora said.

He nevertheless advised the bishops to be more receptive of Duterte’s ideas of how to improve the government’s efforts to help the poor.

“I think that even the leaders of the church would have to see where the people are. And as I’m saying, the leaders of the church would have to listen to what the people are saying in their votes,” he said.

Tabora surmised that the clash between Duterte and the CBCP started when the former took offense at a statement released by CBCP President Archbishop Soc Villegas during the campaign asking the Catholic faithful not to vote for him.

“(Villegas) expressed his personal opinion relative to who to vote for and who not to vote for. I think, that may be behind the reaction of (Duterte) to the CBCP,” he said.

But Tabora underscored that while “the CBCP is a group of leaders of the hierarchy of the church, many people rightfully distinguish between the CBCP and the church.”

Duterte has been at loggerheads with the church leadership. He had branded bishops to be “hypocrites” and had even encouraged the Catholic Church’s followers to instead join the “Iglesia ni Duterte (Church of Duterte).”

Since those tirades from the incoming president, Tabora noted that the CBCP has not issued any statement to react to Duterte’s attacks.

Church vs death penalty Tabora said it was without a doubt that the church will cross swords with Duterte on his plan to re-impose the death penalty for certain heinous crimes.

“The church will take and articulate its stand on death penalty. There is no argument that the church is against death penalty. The church had been pushing for a culture of life and hope and belief in the ability of people to change. And it has always wanted to protect especially the poor against condemnation that are often biased against the poor. The church will fight death penalty and disagree with the president in his desire to implement the death penalty,” he said.

But Tabora said the people will ultimately have the last say on the issue of the re-imposition of the death penalty.

“Congress represents the people, and the bishops may then go to Congress. But Digong will also go to Congress. So ultimately, the people will decide this issue in terms of the common good as provided for in our Constitution,” Tabora said.

3-child policy

Tabora also explained that Duterte has not made any official pronouncement that he would make it a state policy to keep parents from having more than three children.

He pointed out that Duterte had merely issued a “recommendatory” statement on how he planned to curb the country’s growing population that has largely been blamed for the high incidence of poverty in the country.

“(Duterte) said he would not force anybody to do this, so that he wouldn’t be making a state policy. He just believes that people should have a way of limiting the number of children they take responsibility for to bring up,” Tabora noted.

Don’t turn into a dictator

While he had given Duterte the benefit of the doubt in exercising the powers he would wield as the next president, Tabora cautioned him not to turn into a “dictator, or a monster.”

“I hope he remains to true to his word that he would respect the law of the land. He would not work outside of the law, he would not work with any death squad on a national scale and therefore, become a dictator, that in hubris and in excess may become a monster. Because once you feel that you do not need the law, that power becomes dangerous,” he said.