Palace pins blame to Duterte critics for death threats vs. bishops

FILE: Presidential Spokesperson and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Secretary Salvador Panelo holds a press briefing for the Malacañang Press Corps (MPC) on Monday, November 26, 2018, at the New Executive Building (NEB) in Malacañang. (Photo: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson/Facebook)

If there is someone to blame for the death threats that a Catholic bishop has been reportedly receiving, Malacañang said it is not President Rodrigo Duterte but his critics.

“It is the critics and detractors of the President and this Administration who have been constantly painting a different picture by manipulating PRRD’s statements and making them appear to look bad and malicious,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement on Thursday, February 28.

“A joke perceived to be a joke by Filipinos are converted by these haters into a grave and serious marching order so as to confuse the public and at the same time put themselves in a position where they can criticize the President,” he added.

The Palace official issued this remark after two opposition lawmakers, Senators Risa Hontiveros and Leila de Lima, claimed that the reason why there are threats in the life of Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David is because of Duterte’s tirades against the Catholic Church and its members.

Panelo, however, came to the President’s defense, reiterating that the latter’s statements about the Church and the clergymen were said “in jest” or were made using “figure of speech or hyperbole.” He also noted that it has been Duterte’s way of delivering his message to his audience even when he was still serving as Davao City mayor.

“He is a natural teaser. His audience responds animatedly to his comedic utterances. The public knows when the President is serious and they also understand when he only means to be comical,” he explained.

David earlier revealed that he has been getting death threats about two weeks ago, but said he has no idea who might have sent him the message.

[READ: Caloocan Bishop David reveals he has been receiving death threats]

The spokesman believed that the threats could be done by pranksters, anti-Duterte trolls, or David’s personal enemies. Nevertheless, Panelo assured that the government will not allow anyone to do harmful things against the priests and bishops.

“Let the members of the Catholic hierarchy be assured that the President means no harm. They need not be afraid as we are one with them in their mission in thwarting evil,” he said.

Duterte has repeatedly made sharp rhetorics against the Church which he earlier called as the “most hypocritical institution” in the country. He previously told bystanders to rob ‘rich’ bishops and kill them after, and even wished death for “useless” prelates who only criticize his administration.

David has also become the subject of some of Duterte’s verbal attacks, claiming that the Caloocan bishop steals from mass offerings and that the prelate is into illegal drugs.

Despite these, the President issued a warning to the public not to harm those on the religious sector or they will have to face him.

He said this after Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle informed him that there are priests who have received death threats from “someone claiming to be working for the President’s family.” The Chief Executive, however, denied this and stressed that there are people who use his name to threaten religious leaders.