Duterte says he was sexually abused by priest

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday revealed that a priest sexually abused him when he was young.

The 70-year Duterte made the allegation amid the flak that he had been receiving from members of the clergy.

"[Kami] sa Ateneo noon and I will tell you the abuses committed against the minors at that time including me and I will tell you my story. Kaming lahat dumaan kami," said Duterte in Tina Panganiban-Perez's report on "24 Oras."

Duterte had been under fire after he used an expletive to refer to Pope Francis while making a point on the traffic situation in the country during a press conference on Monday.

The PDP-Laban presidential candidate also reacted to Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas' remarks on Duterte's use of bad words.

"Look, kayong mga pari, kayong mga bishop, you condemn me and
you suggest that I will withdraw and I will withdraw but then I will start to open my mouth," Duterte said.

"There are so many secrets na kaming mga bata pa tinataguan namin wag nyo kaming pilitin because itong relihyon na ito is not so sacred," he added.

Vulgarity is corruption

Villegas had equated the use of expletives to corruption.

"Vulgarity is corruption. When we find vulgarity funny, we have really become beastly and barbaric as a people," Villegas said in a statement posted online.

"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 added.

Duterte on Tuesday expressed regret over his expletives against Pope Francis during his speech at the PDP-Laban's proclamation and endorsement of his candidacy and tandem with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.

"Mayor Rody Duterte expressed sadness and regret that the part of his speech mentioning Pope Francis in relation to the monstrous traffic gridlock in January, came across as being disrespectful to the person of His Holiness Pope Francis. It was farthest from his mind and was never his intention," a statement posted on his Facebook account said. —NB/JST, GMA News