Duterte considers ‘complete conciliation’ with Church

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte meets with Former Foreign Minister and Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council Chair Fumio Kishida who paid a courtesy call on the President at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on October 31, 2017. (SIMEON CELI JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

Amid the protests of the Catholic Church against the alleged extra-judicial killings (EJK) under the current administration, President Rodrigo Duterte is striving for a “complete conciliation” with the church.

President Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Monday during a press briefing that the President is exerting all his efforts to achieve unity between the church and the government despite the political distance in the relationship between of the two due to the Separation of Church and State.

“I don’t think there should be a conflict and from now on, I think what I have been reading from the President himself is that he’s exerting all efforts to have complete conciliation with the Church and all religious group,” Roque said.

“Pareho naman po tayo nagnanais na itaguyod ‘yung moralidad at pareho naman tayo nagnanais po na itaguyod din ‘yung mga karapatan ng ating mga kababayan dahil lahat po tayo ay hinirang ng Panginoon sa kanyang imahe [We (government and the Church) both want to uphold morality and we both want to uphold the rights of our countrymen because we are all chosen by God according to his image],” Roque added.

Roque said that there should be an agreement between the two sectors since they are both serving the interest of the countrymen.

“But because we’re both serving the interest of our countrymen, so naniniwala po ako na mas mabuti na magkaroon nang pagkakasunduan sa parte ng simbahan at ng ating gobyerno ‘no [I believed that it better to have an agreement on the part of the Church and the government],” he said.

Roque assured the public that Duterte administration would never tolerate EJK under his tightened campaign against illegal drugs in the country.

“The President condones unnecessary and illegal killings. The President has said it over and over again, he will stand by his men if the killings are as a result of a legal engagement, and he will throw them behind bars if the killings are illegal,” Roque stressed.

He also stressed that freedom of expression is accorded to everyone including the Church, adding that the Church is “very important in this nation as forming part of our culture and our sense of identity.”

On Sunday,  Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) organized a ‘Lord Heal Our Land’ mass at the EDSA Shrine in Quezon City for the victims of alleged EJKs.