{"id":169773,"date":"2018-07-08T04:14:45","date_gmt":"2018-07-08T08:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=169773"},"modified":"2018-07-08T04:14:45","modified_gmt":"2018-07-08T08:14:45","slug":"duterte-to-church-you-cant-use-god-to-criticize-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/07\/08\/duterte-to-church-you-cant-use-god-to-criticize-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte to Church: You can\u2019t use God to criticize me"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Duterte said it is not right for Church leaders to use \u201cthe platform of God\u201d to criticize him and urged them to refrain from using God\u2019s name in vain. (RICHARD MADELO\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— There is a separation of Church and state, President Rodrigo R. Duterte reminded the Catholic Church on Saturday hitting its leaders anew for criticizing him on his various policies including his war on drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are a religious, you have to be something of a neutral\u00a0dito sa<\/em>\u00a0(here) faith\u00a0mo pati<\/em>\u00a0(and) government because it is really the concept of a republican system that there is a separation of Church and state,\u201d Duterte said during the inauguration of the Malayan Colleges Mindanao in Davao City.<\/p>\n

Duterte said it is not right for Church leaders to use \u201cthe platform of God\u201d to criticize him and urged them to refrain from using God\u2019s name in vain.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when you criticize me, do not use the platform of God. That God will send you to hell\u2026 that God will never forgive you, hell is waiting for you. Do not do it. Do not take God — God’s name in vain,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s fundamental. It’s almost basic. There is really a clear cut between religion and governance. You cannot use God to criticize me,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Duterte said \u201cevery Filipino\u201d is entitled to criticize him as a matter of right because they were \u201cpaying\u201d his salary through taxes. However, he said foreigners and priests do not have that same right.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, every Filipino is entitled to criticize me as a matter of right,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if I fall short of their expectations and they begin to be disappointed, discontent, or whatever, they have every right for I may have failed them in my promises.\u00a0Kaya<\/em>\u00a0okay\u00a0sa akin ‘yan<\/em>\u00a0(That\u2019s why it\u2019s okay with me). But certainly not a foreigner, however holy you are, I will not allow you to do it in my country for after all, we are not supposed to do it in other countries, too,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cPero huwag ‘yung ibang tao na basta na lang,<\/em>\u00a0(But not other people) and the priests, and the Church, and everybody connected with a set of religion or whatever,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Duterte also questioned how the church sought collections.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you pity the poor,\u00a0eh kung gusto mong tumulong, bakit ka sige kolekta diyan<\/em>\u00a0(If you want to help, then why do you collect there)?\u201d Duterte said, noting that collections were sometimes asked thrice.<\/p>\n

\u201cTatlong beses pa umiikot? ‘Yung unang<\/em>\u00a0bag\u00a0malaki tapos<\/em>\u00a0next collection\u00a0paliit. Ang<\/em>\u00a0next collection,\u00a0wala na, maliit na masyado kay wala naman magbigay. Pangatlong<\/em>\u00a0round\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0(And it\u2019s passed around thrice? The first is a big bag, the next is a smaller one. The next one is too small you can\u2019t give anything anymore. It\u2019s the third round.),\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

The President reiterated that he has a \u201cdeep and abiding faith in God\u201d but noted that his God was a \u201cuniversal mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lessons I learned in life, the hard ways and ‘yung (the) — your capacity to seek someone who has — somewhere a universal mind,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

He also challenged anyone to prove God\u2019s existence by showing him a selfie and he would willingly step down from his post.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if there is somebody of the so many billions, maybe if he can go there in heaven, talk to God, and\u00a0magpa<\/em>-selfie\u00a0sila, at bumalik siya dito, at sabihin ng pari<\/em>\u00a0(get a selfie, return here, and the priest will say) \u2018There is God,” I will step down tomorrow. No question),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Amid Duterte\u2019s negative remarks about the Church, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the President was entitled to his \u201cpersonal belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Duterte\u2019s 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 (ADDU).<\/p>\n

Duterte earlier formed a four-man panel to dialogue with the Catholic Church and other religious leaders to push for \u201chealing\u201d amid their public spat.<\/p>\n

The President is set to meet with Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles in Malaca\u00f1ang on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— There is a separation of Church and state, President Rodrigo R. Duterte reminded the Catholic Church on Saturday hitting …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":167067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[12253,386,16251],"class_list":["post-169773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-war-on-drugs","tag-church","tag-rodrigo-r-duterte","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}