Masbate priest tells Duterte: We have list of criminals we want you to kill

Priest in this Masbate Church to Duterte: Pag ikaw naging Pres, marami kaming ipapapatay sa iyo. @gmanewsbreaking pic.twitter.com/22hz3zGjnZ

— Cedric Castillo (@cedric_castillo) April 16, 2016

A Masbate-based Catholic priest on Saturday asked to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to make good his promise to kill as many criminals as he could should he eventually gets elected president.

"Kapag ikaw ang naging Presidente, marami kaming ipapapatay sa iyo," Fr. Lorenzo Bautista, rector of the Masbate Cathedral, said in his homily.

Durterte visited the cathedral while was campaigning in Masbate Saturday.

As the mayor was holding a lit candle inside the church, the rector said he approves of Duterte's proposal for a tough proactive approach to combat criminality and corruption.

Asked later if he was being serious about having criminals killed, Bautista told GMA News that he was just joking.

"It is a joke. Pero kung marami dito ang dapat patayin na involved in the criminalities, corruption, and drugs, I am with him (Duterte)," the priest said.

Fr. Lorenzo Bautista, Rector of Masbate Cathedral, on his msg to Duterte to have criminals killed. @gmanewsbreaking pic.twitter.com/WQesmSJM6W

— Cedric Castillo (@cedric_castillo) April 16, 2016

Sought for comment, Duterte said he understands that even priests are against drugs, corruption, and criminality. Making such statements is not unbecoming of a clergy, the presidential candidate said.

"Nasa Bible 'yan. (Nasa) safety (si Fr. Bautista)," he said. — APG, GMA News