MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte—who is known for his crass language and for calling God “stupid”—turned religious as he called on the public to “persevere” amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saying God will not abandon Filipinos this time of crisis.
In a taped speech aired Tuesday morning, Duterte urged Filipinos to be patient and follow health protocols to avoid contracting the respiratory disease while the coronavirus vaccine is still being developed.
“In the mean time ang importante talaga dito is your perseverance. That’s the word. You must persevere during this time. Simplehin ko: Patience. Tutal darating din ‘yan,” Duterte said.
(What’s important here is your perseverance. I’ll simplify it: Patience. It will also come.)
“Marunong ang Diyos, hindi niya tayo pababayaan especially ang Pilipinas kasi Kristoyanos tayo. Magsakripisyo lang tayo ng konti.”
(God knows, He will not abandon us especially the Philippines being a Christian nation. Let’s just sacrifice a little bit.)
“Tutal ang ating idol nagsakripisyo man din, pinaghahampas hampas, ipinako pa sa krus, tayo pasimba simba lang, paluhod-luhod lang. So dedicate it to the Lord that you also suffer for the country.”
(In fact our idol made sacrifices, He as pilloried, nailed on the cross, we, we just attend mass, kneel in churches.)
Duterte earlier said God is “the only one who can really solve the problem” on COVID-19 as the disease from China continues to ravage countries and territories globally including the Philippines where as many as 68,898 individuals have been infected, 1,835 of whom died while 23,072 were able to recover.
Yet Duterte has repeatedly drawn backlash for mocking the beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church.
He had called the doctrine of the Holy Trinity “silly” and branded Jesus Christ “unimpressive” for allowing himself to be crucified. He had also slammed priests critical of his brutal war on drugs, even asking bystanders to kill and rob them.