Bishop David confirms receiving death threats

Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David on Tuesday confirmed that he started to receive death threats two weeks ago, according to a report on Saksi.

"I don’t know who they are coming from," David said, in a report posted on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

The confirmation was made after President Rodrigo Duterte bared that his former Special Assistant Bong Go received a text message from Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle that some Catholic officials and priests are receiving threats from "someone who claims to be working for the President's family."

David, who is also CBCP vice president, is a staunch critic of the administration's anti-drug campaign.

Pressed for comment if he thinks the threats are linked to his stance on the "drug war," David replied: "Your guess is as good as mine."

"No threat or intimidation can stop me from carrying on with my spiritual and pastoral duties as a bishop," he added.

According to a separate report by Joseph Morong on Saksi on Tuesday, due to death threats, Bishop David was not able to attend a ceremony where he was supposed to receive a human rights award from a university.

His brother, professor Randy David, read his message on his behalf: "I am requesting my kuya, Randy David, to please represent me in this morning ceremony. For over a week now, my mobile phone has been buzzing with text messages written in screaming and intimidating capital letters telling me that I was next in line for execution."

Security assistance was offered to the bishop by the Caloocan Police, but he refused it.

"Sir, I said, as far as I know, your ultimate superior is the President himself. I recall he was the first to pose a grave threat against my life," Bishop David said in the read message.

Duterte, on the other hand, recently warned the public not to take his tirades against the Church too seriously, especially his suggestion to drug addicts to hurt bishops.

"'Yang aming away ko sa Katoliko, amin lang 'yan personal, kayong mga adik, 'wag ninyong totohanin 'yung pukpukin yang mga bishop pati mga cardinal, hindi sila kasali sa political ruckus... Sinagot ko lang 'yung sinabi ng pari na mamatay ako," he said at a an event in Pasay City on Monday.

"Pag ginawa mo 'yan sa kanila, ako mismo ang kalaban mo at ako ang hihirit sa'yo kasi ginagawa ninyo 'yan para siraan ako," he added. — Dona Magsino/BAP, GMA News