Having won the elections with an impressive margin, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte didn’t have to rub it in the noses of the Catholic bishops who clearly opposed his candidacy via statements and pastoral letters to their faithful.
But in interviews with the media in Davao City, Duterte went on the offensive as he called the Catholic Church a hypocritical institution and lambasted the Church officials who campaigned against him, unleashing a torrent of invectives against the men of the cloth whom he accused of having wives, mistresses and enriching themselves through donations and “requests” to the powers that be.
Practically everything he said about the Catholic Church isn’t new because it had been reported in local, national and international media. Stories abound of abortions being performed on nuns who got impregnated by priests, or priests having relations with minors.
After venting his ire on the Church, Duterte then went on with his agenda which is to introduce a “three-child policy” as part of the government’s family planning program.
To be sure, a lot of Filipinos, not just Catholics, share his sentiments, and it is this view that Pope Francis sought to correct by instituting reforms and changes within the Church.
And to their credit, the Church leaders downplayed Duterte’s verbal offensives by simply reiterating their stand against the use of contraceptives and other artificial birth control methods for family planning.
The Church had already moved for reeducating the public on Church-approved methods of family planning, and having seen
Duterte’s push for an intensified population control program, it won’t argue against limiting the size of the family inasmuch as how it is achieved.
As far as Duterte’s tirades against the Catholic Church are concerned, at least one of its leaders, Lingayen Archbishop emeritus Oscar Cruz had apologized for saying anything that may have offended him, while assuring at the same time that they will speak out against any abuses committed by the incoming Duterte administration including the family planning program.
Even if much has been said about the so-called separation of Church and State, relations between the two have varied throughout the years in this country, spiking occasionally when an outspoken leader like Duterte comes along.
It remains to be seen how much influence Duterte can wield over a populace whose majority of registered voters supported him and whether it is sufficient to convince them to join his so-called “Iglesia ni Duterte.”
But as had been shown when he insulted and cursed Pope Francis, the Filipino people can only tolerate so much bluster and bombast from Duterte or any leader for that matter before they start questioning and objecting to his tirades and governance style.
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