There was, apparently, no love lost between President Rodrigo Duterte and the Catholic Church.
Even during his campaign, the President minced no words lambasting the church for the sexual molestation he allegedly suffered from a priest when he was in high school.
Almost two years into his six-year term, the President continues with his attacks. Below are excerpts, edited for brevity.
“So God was lonely, so he created paradise and that’s planet Earth. And God said, ‘I will create man,’ so there was Adam. God found that Adam was lonely, so he took one of his ribs and created woman. But God doubted his creation so he tested it. He called a snake and told it to give an apple to Eve. Eve ate it and gave it to Adam. And so malice was born.
“Who is this stupid God? You created something perfect and then you think of an event that would destroy the quality of your work. How can you rationalize that God? How can you believe him? So now we’re all born with an original sin. Even in the womb, we already have sin. What kind of religion is that?”
—June 22, 2018, opening of the 2018 National ICT Summit in Davao City
“And I assure you, you can walk around at night and nobody would really bother you. (I will target) drugs, I said, after corruption. I’m a simple man. I have run roughshod against almost everybody—priests, human rights (activists). I don’t give a shit. Those priests and bishops, they didn’t elect me to office. Those (idiots), they’re with the other side.”
—June 14, 2018, Oathtaking of newly elected barangay officials of Region 4A, Sta. Rosa City, Laguna
Baloney!
“So don’t believe those Catholics, or Adam and Eve. The god of the Catholics, He’s an idiot. Look for a better God. Look, it says in catechism that God created the world. It was a paradise. Then he made man, Adam, and he was lonely so God created woman. It would have been fine but God called the snake and gave it an apple, asked it to give it to Eve. Then Eve tempted Adam to eat the apple and malice became malice. We all sinned. We are all born sinners, son of a whore. What did we have to do with Adam and Eve who were the ones who did the deed? What kind of God was that? Things were perfect then he decides to ruin them. So don’t believe those priests. During my campaign, I felt like peeing, but son of a whore, it took three hours from Robinsons to the airport. I was late. So I said, son of a whore, Pope, you better leave now. I cursed him. Why did he come and cause such a traffic jam? So the God of the Catholics? Baloney! We have a new religion when we get out of here: the church of Rodrigo (applause). No limit. You have an obligation to make yourself happy. (applause)”
—June 3, 2018, Meeting with the Filipino community in South Korea, Grand Hilton Hotel and Convention Center, Seoul
“It angers me. I was mayor for 23 years and people would come to me crying, saying, ‘We have to bury our dead, but the church refused to open its doors. The priest got angry because it’s a Sunday. The corpse smells really bad now.’ I said, son of a whore, take the corpse out from the coffin and throw it there by the altar…
“And why are you blaming me? Your parish priest married an NPA [New People’s Army] member in Cordillera. So the NPAs were not the ones who killed him. In fact, the NPAs protested his death. But if you have an adulterous relationship with the wife of a soldier, a police, or a vice mayor, then you will really die. So that’s why you should change your religion. A new religion has been founded. Our patron is St. Rodrigo.”
—May 20, 2018, Annual town fiesta, Tabogon, Cebu
Are tomboys normal?
“Are you normal? Yes. Are tomboys abnormal? No, of course, not. Why? Because we are all creations of God (applause). It was God who made a mistake.”
—Dec. 7, 2017, 7th LGBT Davao’s year-end gathering, Azuela Cove, Davao City
“You know if you are God, you are perfect. There ought not to be imperfections. Your creation must be good. Why create a snake? Better give that to China, which might cook it tomorrow (laughter).”
—Nov. 28, 2017, Birthday celebration of Atty. Alfredo Lim in Dasmariñas, Cavite
“It’s not our fault. It’s the fault of God. Why did he have to create woman. If we were all men, we’d just have a free-for-all.”
—Nov. 23, 2017, Birthday celebration of Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco, Malago Clubhouse, PSG Compound
“I once encountered some bishops, that son of a whore CBCP [Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines], and I said, you act so high and mighty. We’re just the same. You have so many women. So if you want to go to hell, believe in those priests. It’s hot down there but all the beautiful women are there. Only the ugly ones go to heaven (laughter).”
—July 14, 2017, 11th Ambassadors’ tour Philippine reception, SMX Convention Center, Davao City
“Priests do nothing but rant. They live in palaces. You should sell those and use the money to buy rice for the poor. And stop collecting money. If you don’t, I will have you arrested for extortion … I do not need martial law. I do not need to declare a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. You destroy my country, you destroy the youth. I don’t give a shit if all the priests kneel and pray and beg. I have a country to preserve and that is the Filipino nation. It has nothing to do with religion.”
—May 2017, Groundbreaking ceremony for the third bridge that would connect Cebu Island and Mactan Island
“If you tell me you’re still Catholic tomorrow, I will be impressed with you. That religion will become passé in the next 30 years.”
—March 30, 2017, Go Negosyo event, Malacañang
“I challenge you now. I challenge the Catholic Church. You are full of shit. You all smell bad, corruption and all … (On the bishops’ Pajeros given by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo): Shouldn’t you be ashamed of yourselves? That’s so expensive and so many people have nothing to eat. Son of a whore, you accepted it. That was pure graft and corruption.”
—Jan. 24, 2017, Speech before a meeting with families of slain Special Action Force commandos, Malacañang
(Speaking of priests from his childhood): “When we were young, we were making confessions to you, we were being molested … What is your moral ascendancy? … You are not helping. You just keep on talking.”
—Jan. 19, 2017, Oathtaking of PNP officials, Malacañang
(Alleging that the Catholic Church never helped in solving the drug problem): “You’re only good in collection.”
—Dec. 27, 2016, Davao City
(On the death penalty): “Every President along the way didn’t impose it only because the Catholic Church and all the bleeding hearts would say that only God can kill. But what if there is no God?”
—Sept. 26, 2016, Oathtaking ceremony of Malacañang Press Corps officials
“When you fondle us when we were young (and) holding confession while holding our prick and asking us what are our sins, and while you’re fondling us while we are pouring out our sins, then you pretend to be the righteous institutions of this society, and now you criticize [others])? … The priest (who raped me) is in hell a long time ago, he paid P25 million to all the parties, and you still insist on hypocrisy? … I can sit the whole six years of the presidency exposing you and attacking you.”
—June 2, 2016, press conference at the presidential guesthouse, Davao City
“If I start (naming) the bishops who got married and have women in their lives, the Catholic Church will explode. (Referring to bishops who received SUVs from the Arroyo administration): People have no food, no medicine, while you’re enjoying the money of the goddamn people of the Philippines. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”
—May 22, 2016, late-night news conference, Davao City
(Duterte names the late Fr. Paul Falvey, S.J., one of the Jesuit priests at Ateneo de Davao University as the priest who took his and other boys’ innocence during high school): “It happened during our generation, two years ahead of us and two years following us … It cost him some P25 million because other victims filed a case, it was a case of fondling during confession, that’s how we lost our innocence early … It was a sort of sexual awakening for each of us. We realized quite early that life was like that. How can we complain? We were afraid.”
—Dec. 3, 2015, Davao City
“So I said, why is the road closed? Who’s coming and they said the Pope. I wanted to tell him, ‘Pope, you son of a whore, go home. Don’t visit us anymore.”
—Nov. 30, 2015, Proclamation as PDP-Laban’s standard-bearer —INQUIRER RESEARCH
Sources: Inquirer.net, Inquirer Archives, PCOO website