Duterte: World better off without priests involved in sexual abuse

President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said the world will be a better place if there are no priests who commit sexual abuse.

Duterte, who claimed to have been molested by an American priest when he was a young student, said priests who raped children should die.

"To the priests who raped children and fondled balls, you sons of b****** I will really kill you," he said at the PDP-Laban campaign rally in Cagayan de Oro City. "Bakit ako matakot? If you all get killed tonight, that would be better. Then we will have a better world."

He also slammed clergymen who interfere in politics. 

"All governments in the world, for as long as the Catholic church interferes with governance, are chaotic. Whether it’s in Chile, South America. As long as there are priests. That has been the case since the olden times," he said.

"The bishops, the sons of b****** serve the rich and the elite, those who are owners of banks and other businesses. Was I lying?"

Early this month, three priests presented threatening text messages they have received and video showing the suspicious activity of certain individuals outside their homes.

The threats were sent amid Duterte’s relentless attacks against the Catholic Church and its priests, who openly opposed his campaign against illegal drugs, in which thousands of Filipinos have died.

The President later called on the public to spare the religious leaders from harassment even as his harsh rhetoric against the priests and bishops continued. — RSJ, GMA News