Priest tells Duterte: ‘Shut your mouth and things will be OK’

Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte. (REUTERS)

• Duterte is distancing himself from many Catholics — the people who voted him to office
• The firebrand president is due to hold talks at Catholic Bishops’ Conference and also with Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s comments about a “Christian God” have been criticized by a church leader who suggested the country’s leader “shut his mouth.”
Duterte on Friday night said that if anyone can provide proof that the Christian God exists, such as a selfie in heaven, he will immediately give up the presidency.
“Duterte should learn to keep his mouth shut and everything will be OK,” said a Mindanao priest and Catholic peace activist on Saturday.
Oblate missionary Elizeo Mercado Jr. told Arab News that Duterte “appears to be fixated with God and religion, and his rants against the Catholic church are polarizing Filipinos.”
In his speech, the president said he believes in one Supreme God and he “just happened to be a human being believing there’s a universal mind somewhere who controls the universe.”
But he also said: “If there is anyone of you there, the noisy ones, who would say that you have been to heaven, talked to God, saw him personally, and that He exists, the God that is yours, if that is true I will step down the presidency tonight.” Mercado, who is an acquaintance of the president, said that Duterte “does not let go.”
“I don’t know why but normally when you go up high in the presidency, when you see that your statements divide and polarize your people, normally the people up there who is committed to national unity know how to let go.”
The firebrand president is due to hold talks at Catholic Bishops’ Conference and also with Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles on Monday at Malacanang.
But Mercado said that given his fixation, “there’s no way to have a dialogue or move forward.”
“No one can help (him), except a professional. Not the church, not you and I, but professionals that deal with this kind of illness,” said Mercado.
“He has always been like that (firebrand) but... not in the same way that he is attacking the Catholic church now. I don’t know why it all appeared now. He said when he was a candidate the church was opposed to him, so it’s probably his way to retaliate,” Mercado said.
A town mayor from Luzon who supported Duterte during his campaign has also expressed disapproval of the president’s attacks on the church.
“Duterte is distancing himself from many Catholics — the people who voted him to office,” he said.
Political analyst Ranjit Singh Rye, of the University of the Philippines, said: “Only God knows the mindset of the president.”