THE President’s spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. confirmed on Tuesday that President Duterte will be meeting with the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) next Monday, July 9.
Earlier, the President created a committee to hold a dialogue with the Church in his behalf after drawing flak from religious groups and even the public for calling God “stupid” and for his controversial remarks on the Catholic faith.
“Well, I confirm that this Monday, July 9, Archbishop Valles will be meeting with the President here in Malacañang. So that’s the update on the dialogue, ” Roque said. “Although the President highlighted that this is really not unusual because they have had an open communication lines with Archbishop Valles since he became President.”
Roque was part of the committee to hold the dialogues with the Church. The other committee members include Edsa People Power Commissioner Pastor “Boy” Saycon, and Foreign Undersecretary Ernesto C. Abella and Cabinet Secretary and former Catholic priest Leoncio “Jun” Evasco Jr..
Malacañang expressed hope in a press briefing last week that the Davao Archbishop will have a fruitful dialogue with the President since they are on good terms.
Amid these efforts from the government to reach out to the Church, the President, however, still continued to slam Roman Catholics.
In a speech on Monday, Duterte said in Bisaya: “To those religious who keep on criticizing me, this is how it is: Do not use God. Do not include him in your criticisms against me, God sentenced you to rot in there.
“Because when I answer, I will include your God as well because you used Him against me,” he said.
However, Roque defended the President, saying: “If there is going to be a cessation of hostile language, I think it has to be from both institutions.”
Manila Archbishop Broderick Pabillo slammed Duterte on July 1 in a blog post, saying that Duterte’s election was not God’s will.
Pabillo was responding to the question raised in an e-mail, “Why did God give us Duterte?”
“God did not give us Duterte to be our president. The 16 million voters chose him to be President and he is now President,” he said.
He also hopes that the Filipinos have “learned the lesson not to be blinded by propaganda, like tough talk…and now, social media,” he added.
Still, Roque said he thinks that it’s not just the President who should be told that the dialogue should be treated as a “two-way street,” adding that the goal of the dialogue is for both sides to recognize that they are serving the same people and constituency.
“So I think it’s not just the President who should be told that as we hold this dialogue, that perhaps there should be a cease-fire; it should also be told to some leading Church leaders, as well,” he said.