Philippine priest chides Duterte for mocking clergy
A Divine Word priest in the Philippines has lambasted President Rodrigo Duterte for telling parishioners to ask God why he allowed Super Typhoon Rai to destroy people’s homes before Christmas.
Duterte had told victims in Leyte province in the Visayas region they should “pray directly to God, not through priests.” He lamented that Rai had taken lives and damaged properties worth billions of pesos while the country was still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Our bad luck, all the bad things happened one after the other. I don’t know if God is still watching over us. Why don’t you ask your priest? Our problems arrive successively and they are very costly,” Duterte said.
Father Flavie Villanueva, a staunch critic of the president, said Duterte should have asked himself the same question in front of the mirror.
“Why do you need to go far in asking priests to ask God why this nation is experiencing one mishap after the other? Why don’t you look in the mirror and ask yourself?” Father Villanueva told UCA News on Dec. 22.
Father Villanueva further added that death was not new to Filipinos as the culture of death had been institutionalized six years ago when Duterte began his presidency.
“If God would be allowed to speak, he would say that the Philippines is a seasoned nation in facing and rising from one storm after the other each year. But the worst storms are the culture of death and killings mostly among the poorest of the poor perpetuated by your regime six years ago,” the priest said.
Father Villanueva said the country has faced more than typhoons and natural calamities yet stood firm.
“The tragedy of circulating lies, making a mockery of the rule of law, the enabling of the Chinese government to lavishly reign over our sovereignty. Lastly, don’t blame God. Don’t ask the priest. Ask yourself ‘mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the worst president of them all?’” said Father Villanueva.
On Dec. 19, Duterte had said he prayed directly to God and not through intermediaries like priests. “Why do you believe in those priests? You pray directly to God even if you are in the church,” he said.
“Maybe when you Leyteños [people of Leyte] pray, you pray to the priest. Don’t pray to the priest, pray directly to God,” Duterte added.
He claimed that the only thing he had asked God was to spare the people from another typhoon. “Why did this calamity happen in the Philippines just before Christmas? I don’t know. Maybe you can ask your priests,” he quipped.
