Incoming president Rodrigo Duterte said to impose a three-child policy, putting him on a new collision course with the bishops of Roman Catholic Church.
“I only want three children for every family,” Duterte said on Sunday in Davao City. “I’m a Christian, but I’m a realist so we have to do something with our overpopulation. I will defy the opinion or the belief of the Church.” –
About 80 percent of the Philippines’ 100 million population are Catholics, the largest concentration of any Asian country, who oppose abortion and contraception.
On Saturday, he criticized the Church as the “most hypocritical institution”, meddling in government policies and said some bishops were enriching themselves at the expense of the poor.
“You sons of whores, aren’t you ashamed? You ask so many favours, even from me,” Duterte said in an interview broadcast by TV station GMA.
Church respected Duterte’s opinion but that it would continue to speak against government policies that are contrary to Church teaching, Monsignor Oliver Mendoza, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Lingayen, whose head is the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said.
“Because if we fail to do that, if we close our eyes, if we close our lips, we close our ears, what will be the role of the Church?” he said.
Political analysts said they were not surprised at Duterte’s statements because some bishops spoke out against him during the election campaign.
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