MANILA — Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday said that Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s advice to the public not to listen to her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, interpret religious texts may be good but not applicable since people always listen to the head of the state, albeit for different reasons.
“It is good advice, but may not be applicable because her father is the President of the Republic,” Lacson said in a statement.
He said that when the President speaks in public, people will listen for different personal reasons.
“When he talks, Filipinos listen for different reasons – some are waiting for his mistakes so they can have a field day criticizing him; others want to be informed, so they will learn and be guided by his policy statements; the rest may simply want to be entertained, and make their day,” he said.
“In any case, we all listen,” Lacson said.
But for Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, the President should be responsible for his statements since, as head of state, all his statements must have the presumption of truth.
“Sa akin, siya ay Presidente ng Pilipinas. Dapat responsible siya sa bawat salita na lumalabas sa bibig niya. Hindi yung mga Pilipino o yung mga nakakarinig sa salita niya ang bahalang mag-filter kung ano ang paniniwalaan o hindi (For me, he is the President of the Philippines. He should be responsible for every word that comes out of his mouth. It’s not for Filipino people or those who hear his words to decide what they should believe or not to believe),” Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said during the Kapihan sa Senado news forum.
“Dapat lahat ng sinasabi ng Pangulo ng bansa ay may presumption na ito ay totoo at ito ay tama (Everything what the President of the country says should have a presumption of truth and accuracy),” Trillanes said.
Both the senators’ statements were in reaction to Sara Duterte’s appeal to Filipinos not to listen to her father when he talks about the Bible or the Quran as the President is not a priest or an imam.
“Please do not listen to him interpret the bible or quran, he is not a priest, a pastor or an imam. He is the President, listen only when he speaks about his work. And criticize him on his work not on his ‘talkkalese,” the younger Duterte said on her Instagram post Wednesday.
“Do not waste your negative energy on his interpretation of the bible; that is his opinion. He is protected by the Constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression even if he is President,” she added.
This was after President Duterte drew flak for his remarks about God during his speech at the National Information and Communications (ICT) Summit in Davao City on Friday.
While mentioning the Bible’s creation story, Duterte stated: “Adam ate it then malice was born. Who is this stupid God?”
Duterte said that it did not make sense how God created “something perfect” and then “think of an event that would tempt and destroy the quality of your work.”
In his speech, however, the President asserted his belief in a “universal mind.”
Malacañang officials have since defended President Duterte’s remarks, stressing that it was his “personal belief” which he, and anyone else, had the right to express.
“Iyan po ay personal na paninindigan ng Pangulo. Alam ninyo iyong ating kalayaan ng malayang pananampalataya, kasama po iyan yun sa wala kang paniniwalaan na pananampalataya (This is the personal belief of the President. You know, the freedom of religion includes the freedom not to believe in religion),” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Monday in a radio interview.
He further said that Duterte’s remarks were deeply rooted from his unpleasant experience being allegedly molested by a priest when he was studying at the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Davao University.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, for his part, said that Duterte was not insulting or calling God stupid but merely “questioning” the theory of creation, comparing the President to academicians and scientists who also questioned the story of creation.
He added that he saw Duterte’s statements against Catholicism as no different from other religions who also questioned other faiths.
And like Roque, Panelo said that Duterte was merely “expressing” his opinion because it was a concern “personal” to him and that the 1987 Constitution itself gave Filipinos the right to express themselves provided laws are not violated.