Duterte claims Davao priest died of AIDS complications

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday claimed a Davao City priest died because of complications from HIV-AIDS as he continued his criticism of the Catholic Church hierarchy in the country.

Duterte made the claim in a speech during a summit in Davao, his hometown where he served as mayor for more than two decades before he was elected president in 2016.

“P____ina itong mga pari. In Davao City, I’m calling the church to find out his identity. All you have to do is to connect with your...May pari kayo na namatay very early, AIDS-HIV,” he said.

The President did not give specifics as he went on to slam priests accused of molesting children.

Duterte himself claimed that he and several other high school boys were sexually abused by an American priest when he was a teenager studying at the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Davao University.

Malacañang has since attributed Duterte’s tirades against the Church to the President’s experience of sexual abuse.

The President in August railed against the sexual exploitation of children.

He said that the Church "should be smart enough" to separate the "chaff from the grain” in an apparent reference to priests involved in cases of child sexual abuse. — BAP, GMA News