MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte, a man who has recently devoted a portion of every speech to dissing the Catholic Church, already has Holy Week on his mind.

As penance, Duterte said he would have himself crucified if the Catholich Church proves its priests and leaders are innocent of scandals detailed in the book Altar of Secrets by the late veteran journalist and Rappler senior investigative reporter Aries Rufo.

Referring to the corruption and sex scandals narrated in Rufo’s book, Duterte said on Thursday, January 10, “Kung masagot nila ito at sabihin nila na may isang bagay dito na mali, abangan niyo ang Holy Week, dito ako magpalansang sa krus sa Bulacan.”

(If they respond to this and say even just one detail here is wrong, you wait for Holy Week, I’ll have myself nailed to the cross here in Bulacan.) 

Duterte was speaking at groundbreaking of the Gregorio Del Pilar National High School in Bulacan. He was accompanied by his partner Honeylet Avanceña, known to be a religious woman. 

But the President said he would only last 30 minutes on the cross.

“Pero huwag naman matagal. Siguro 30 minutos. Kaya ko man ‘yan (But not too long. Maybe for 30 minutes. I can do that.) ,” he said.

In the same speech, Duterte slammed some Catholic priests and bishops for criticizing him during their homilies.

“Do not use the pulpit to attack me,” he said.

For several days now, Duterte has often brought up a priest who supposedly called him demonic and said in a homily that he prayed for the President to die. 

Just the night before, Duterte said he wanted “tambays” (bystanders) to steal from “rich” bishops  and kill them afterwards.  

Malacañang has tried to explain the President’s kill threats against priests and bishops by saying Duterte was only using such violent rhetoric for “dramatic effect.”  

Duterte likes to mention Rufo’s book in every rant he has against the Catholic Church. At times, he has even shown his audience his copy of the book and has ordered his staff to distribute copies of it. – Rappler.com