The Catholic Church said Thursday it will not seek to overthrow President Rodrigo Duterte “under any circumstance,” one day after a political strategist for the Palace said there was a plot to destabilize the government after the Chief Executive called God “stupid.”
“The church preaches non-violence and sobriety and would not, under any circumstance, actively seek to overthrow the government,” said Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines permanent committee on public affairs.
Pastor Boy Saycon said earlier that the government is not discounting the possibility that radical members of the Catholic Church may be used by some organizations to destabilize the government.
But Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque played down the remarks of Saycon, one of four officials named to a committee to placate religious leaders who are in an uproar over President Duterte’s remarks.
“Maybe because he is new to government, we will give [him] a thorough briefing on how we go about releasing information to the public,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English.
Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde, reacting to Saycon’s remarks, said they have not monitored any serious destabilization efforts against the Duterte administration.
Hours after a meeting with officials from the CBCP and PNP officials in Intramuros, Manila, Albayalde said no less than Evangelista had ruled out any plot.
“We did not even talk [about it] because it does not exist,” Albayalde added.
The President himself said he would remain silent after his rants.
“And for now, I will just keep my silence for I want to see how the nation reacts. It’s like, I’m shaking the tree. If you would notice me every now and then, either national or local, I really shake the tree,” Duterte said in his speech during the 25th annual national convention of the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philipines in Bohol, Thursday.
He even loosely paraphrased a passage from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, which says, “For everything, there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.”
This, he said, was a time to be silent.
The President also told his audience he wanted to “test the limits of everything,” even when he was young.
On Thursday, Roque announced that Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. had joined the presidential committee tasked to smooth over strained relations with the Catholic Church and other religious groups.
Evasco joins Roque, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ernesto Abella and Saycon in the committee.
At his regular briefing in the Palace, Roque confirmed that the Palace has received an invitation to the annual event which celebrates the feast day of Saint Peter, the first Pope.
“I don’t think at this point the President will be attending the event but then until the President says so, I’m just wary because the invitation came so late that the President already has a fixed schedule,” Roque said.
The invitation of Papal Nuncio Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, who represents the Vatican in the Philippines, comes just days after Duterte called God “stupid” in a scathing attack on the Catholic Church.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said the advice of President Duterte’s daughter, Mayor Sara Duterte, that people pay no heed to her father when he is talking about religion because he is no priest, did not apply to the leader of the nation.
“It is good advice, but may not be applicable because her father is the President of the Republic,” Lacson said in a press statement.
The senator, an ally of the President said when Duterte talks, Filipinos listen for different reasons.
“Some are waiting for his mistakes so they can have a field day criticizing him; others want to be informed, so they will learn and be guided by his policy statements; the rest may simply want to be entertained, and make their day. In any case, we all listen,” he also said.