Digong chides bishops, slams Australia

Presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is greeted by supporters at Lipa City hall in Batangas City during his campaign sortie.
INQUIRER PHOTO / RAFFY LERMA

BACOLOD CITY—Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte on Monday said that in spite of his “bad mouth,” he could still provide the country a “clean government.”

Duterte called on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to slow down in its condemnation of his “gutter language” and “bad remark on rape.”

“I thought all the while I was doing my duties for humanity. And now they’re castigating me for my mouth?” Duterte told reporters.

“I am a  candidate with a foul mouth who kills criminals, but CBCP, I am not a thief. You choose between the two,” he added.

“If the CBCP is correct don’t vote for me. If you obey the CBCP, fine go with them but for me ‘they’re dumb as they don’t understand what I said.’ It was  slang.”

Asked about the tweet of the Australian Embassy that his statement on the missionary who was raped and killed was unacceptable, the mayor said: “This is politics. Stay out. Stay out Australian government. Stay out.”

A video has gone viral, showing Duterte commenting how beautiful the missionary was and then joking about how the hostage-takers had raped her before he did.

Duterte maintained that his statement was not meant to insult the Australian woman. “I was derogating the act of rape. It’s a slang actually,” he said in an interview at the Bacolod People’s House.

“I do not want anybody controlling my mouth. I say what I say and I’ve said it and if it does not sit well with you, that’s your problem. Not mine. Why should anybody begrudge me for telling the truth,” he added

Despite his foul language, he said he would give the Filipinos a clean government if elected to office.

Asked if he would stop making offensive jokes, he replied: “I will not. I do not care. I am just a mere human being on this planet, which is finite. I have acquired my own identity on this planet. I will not change it for anything. Otherwise, I will not be Rodrigo Duterte.”

He said it was his mouth that was keeping the peace in Davao because it was instilling fear in criminals.

Foes criticized

Duterte also took the occasion to criticize his opponents, Mar Roxas and Vice President Jejomar Binay.

He said every time Binay dipped his hand in his pocket, the government lost money. “Binay, his wife and children are certified plunderers. He is a butcher of the people’s money.”

Roxas, according to the mayor, dangled and used government resources in his campaign.

Duterte said his publicist prepared a statement of apology but he did not agree to it because there was nothing to apologize for. “It was street slang belittling the act of rape. As a matter of fact because of the rape, I killed 16 people.”

Asked if he actually did the killing, he said “I was the first as I gave the order to shoot to kill.”

He said he got angry when he saw the body of a 3-year-old boy who was killed by the hostage-takers.

The mayor said he embraced the boy and his mind went black with anger. He then took his Uzi submachine gun and fired, emptying one magazine.

“I was the first one to fire everything. That was recorded history,” he said.

Asked if he was not worried that his statements would affect the sensitivities of other rape victims and their families, he said: “Why should they be mad at me? I killed the 16 and yet they’re mad at me. What did I do to those who defiled that woman? I killed them in public.”