The president of the Philippines has stepped up his conflict with the country’s bishops, daring them to resign.
At a meeting with the bereaved families of police officers, Rodrigo Duterte said: “I challenge all the bishops’ conference. Let’s resign tomorrow, all together, OK? Resign. I will do it first. I will deliver my letter of resignation, you wait.”
Mr Duterte, who was elected last year, has clashed repeatedly with the country’s bishops, especially over his support for the death penalty and support of extrajudicial killings of criminals. Archbishop Socrates Villegas, the president of the bishops’ conference, said the country was being damaged by “twisted, upside-down values”, and “cuss words, orchestrated lies and vulgarity never heard before”.
