Bishops urge Duterte to name cleric who had sexually abused him as a child

Manila: Catholic leaders urged Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to identify the priest who abused him as a teenager, as they urged him to stop making controversial statements at the expense of the Church.

“If there’s a mistake committed against him, he must reveal it immediately,” Manila Auxiliary Bishop Roderick Pabillo said on Thursday.

Earlier, the 70-year-old Duterte, who is running for president, said the reason he had little respect for priests was because he had been abused by one while he was in high school, when he was still studying at the Ateneo de Davao, a Jesuit-run educational institution.

Duterte had drawn condemnation from Filipinos — the majority of whom are Catholics — when he blamed the visit of Pope Francis last January for worsening traffic jams in Metro Manila and laced his statement with a profane remark.

The Davao City mayor later on retracted his statement and said he got carried away emotions stirred up by the seeming incapacity of the national government to do something about the horrendous traffic situation in Metro Manila.

Further on, he said his deep-seated contempt against clerics was because he had been abused by a priest when he was in high school.

Duterte said the incident had happened a long time ago and it would be useless to identify and punish the priest.

By this time, the priest would have been more than a century old.

Duterte also said he was wiling to give up his run for the presidency if the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) asks him to do so.

Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, for his part, said Duterte would be of help to the Church is he would identify his abuser.

If Duterte is a true reformer, the mayor should pursue the issue and correct injustice, he said.

“It will also help clean our ranks,” he said.

“Nobody’s perfect. He should also call our attention and we will fix our shortcomings,” Cruz was quoted in reports as saying.

Archbishop Socrates Villegas, President of the CBCP, said Duterte should have been more cautious, after all, he is running for president.

In a post in his Facebook account, Villegas said he should lead by example.

“We have so many leaders in office, and many more aspiring to sit in office, but are they examples of good citizenship? If the leaders we choose are to be leaders for national progress they must be visionaries AND exemplary,” Villegas said.

“Vulgarity is corruption. When we find vulgarity funny, we have really become beastly and barbaric as a people. When a revered and loved and admired man like Pope Francis is cursed by a political candidate and the audience laugh, I can only bow my head and grieve in great shame. My countrymen has gone to the dregs,” he said.

A survey conducted last September said Duterte is a leading candidate among voters in Metro Manila.

In mid-November, Duterte said he decided to run for president if only to counter the candidacy of Senator Grace Poe whom he said, is an American.