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Duterte: I am a deeply religious person


President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday he is a “deeply religious person” who uses the Bible as guide in his daily life.

Duterte said just because he had disagreements with the Catholic Church does not mean he could be “sacrilegious.”

“You might think that just because I quarrel with the cardinals and the bishops that I’m irreverent. ‘Yung I could be a sacrilegious guy. Hindi baya. Kilala ako ni Pastor,” the President said in an interview over Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s television program.

“I am a deeply religious person, sa totoo lang. And my guiding life, alam ni Pastor ‘yan, is the Bible. And if you can memorize by heart and understand Ecclesiastes 3. You can face any problem. You might not be able to solve it but you can understand why.”

Duterte added: “I was prepared to deal with it every time because I was using the Bible. As there is a time for victory, there has to be a time for defeat. Kaya ganun ako.”

Born and raised a Catholic, Duterte had routinely attacked the Church and its teachings in response to the Church’s criticism of his war on drugs and killings of priests.

He even brought up the supposed misdeeds of clergymen and claimed to have been molested by a priest when he was a young student.

Duterte drew flak from religious groups and politicians after his controversial remark calling God “stupid” in June last year.

However, Duterte said the clergy should not use the pulpit to attack him and his policies, particularly the war on drugs.

Malacañang had repeatedly said Duterte’s harsh rhetoric was part of freedom of expression and that the chief executive was only criticizing certain immoral acts of some members of the Church. — RSJ, GMA News

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