NOVALICHES Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani Jr. said Wednesday he might file defamation and libel cases against President Rodrigo Duterte for accusing him of having two wives.
“I do not have even one wife. I hope anyone who says I have two will produce even one,” Bacani told Radyo Veritas.
“I pity him, but I will pray for him.”
Bacani was critical of Duterte during the 2016 national elections, when he told voters not to elect him president.
Duterte, who was guest speaker during the second anniversary of the death of 44 members of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force in Mamasapano, slammed the Catholic Church but focused on Bacani. He claimed Bacani had two wives and even harassed a secretary.
Bacani said Duterte’s remarks were disrespectful to the Catholic Church, but he would still forgive him.
He hoped the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines would announce a collective stand against the summary killings as a result of the government’s fight to stop illegal drugs.
The latest data from the Philippine National Police says at least 6,200 people were killed during the six months of the Duterte administration.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, CBCP president, expressed hope Duterte would not see the Church as an enemy.
Villegas has remained silent despite Duterte’s attacks on the Church, saying “There is virtue in silence. Wisdom is knowing the time for silence and the time for speech.
“Mine is the silence of Jesus before the arrogance of Pilate,” Villegas said.
“Silence indeed is the language of God and only those who speak silence will be able to grasp Him.”
