President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday hit the Catholic Church again, citing what he described as its “creeping influence of faith” amid his government’s efforts to curb the country’s ballooning population.
In his speech during the 31st founding anniversary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Duterte expressed misgivings on the Church’s opposition to artificial family planning methods.
“Kung bakit naputol [Why was it stopped]? It’s because of the influence dito sa taas. And that is one of my reasons why I do not like itong [this], the creeping influence of faith is that they sometimes run counter to what government believes to be good for the people, at least in this temporal life,” he said.
Duterte, a Catholic like 80 percent of the population, said he did not want to pick a fight with the Church but insisted that implementing family planning has something to do with the objection of religion.
“We’re getting so many in number. Wala talaga tayong magawa [We can’t do something about it]. We have breached the 100 million mark. It’s now 105 or 10 depending on your statistics. Eh saan ito pupunta [Where will all of these go]?” the President added.
“Yesterday, I read somebody said that we have to implement the family planning. Alam mo sa totoo lang [You know, truth is], the family planning, with due respect, ayaw ko makipag-away [I don’t want to pick a fight]. It has something to do with the objection of religions, not all. I would not mention the faith because again I would not want to quarrel with them. Wala ka man makuha dito sa mga g****g ‘to, puro salita lang [You can’t get anything from these s****d people, they are all talk],” he said.
The influential Church had played a big role in opposing the implementation of the Reproductive Health Law, with the country’s Catholic bishops criticizing what they described as the President’s “anti-life” measures.
Duterte has made reproductive health a priority, convinced that giving people the means to limit or space births will help sustain economic growth.
Even as mayor of Davao City, he funded birth control programs such as ligation for women and vasectomy for men.
The Duterte administration targets to slash the poverty incidence rate to 14 percent by 2022 from 21.6 percent in 2015 through its 10-point socioeconomic agenda.
Included in the 10-point agenda was “strengthening the implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law to enable, especially, poor couples to make informed choices on financial and family planning.”
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia earlier said that if the law was not implemented properly, the Philippines would be “unable to meet its poverty reduction target.”
Tensions between Duterte and the Catholic Church had risen in the past weeks over the President’s tirades against it and some of its teachings.
At one point, Duterte even called God “stupid” for tempting Adam and Eve in the Genesis creation story.
The President refused to apologize over his anti-God remarks, but formed a four-man panel that would hold a dialogue with religious groups, including the Catholic Church, to ease the tensions between the Church and his administration.
Duterte is set to meet with Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president Romulo Valles on July 9 in an attempt to ease the friction between the government and the Church.