The future of family planning in the Philippines faces a new challenge with the scrapping of P1 billion from the health department’s budget intended for contraceptives. And we mayors, we locals, encounter it eyeball to eyeball almost every day and yet we have this Christian upbringing that tells us it ain’t to be that way,” he said. “If you just allow them to go their way, with 6 or 7 kids, especially in the countryside, you’ll get a headache. Supporting family planning is a form of poverty alleviation, he insisted. “I am for family planning, but I will never tolerate abortion because there’s already a human being inside a womb,” he said.ĭuterte is one of the first mayors in the country to give out free contraceptives and even pay for tubal ligation operations of poor women. He is against abortion but is a champion of family planning. He said he would likely not support legalizing divorce, saying it would inflect a lasting “injury” on the family, especially the children.
He expressed his views on two other topics controversial with the Catholic church: divorce and reproductive health rights. I have many friends, I have relatives, who are gay,” he said. “I have nothing to do with the sexual predilections of my fellow human beings. He is sure about one thing however: lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBT) should be respected. Definitely, the gays were created by God and there has to be a reason for that.”
Why just create a man solely for the function that is a universal practice? We assume in our catechism that we are created in the image of God. This belief is often cited by some religious camps, particularly the Roman Catholic or Christian, as the reason why same-sex marriage is not sanctioned by God.Īround 86% of the Philippine population are Roman Catholic.īut Duterte said, “Maybe the gays were made to order to by God also or their God would be incongruous. He expressed his misgivings on the Catholic idea that marriage is only between a man and a woman for the sole purpose of procreation.
These were the words of presidential aspirant Rodrigo Duterte when asked about his stance on same-sex marriage on the sidelines of Rappler’s “The Leader I Want” forum on Wednesday, January 20.ĭuterte said he is “open” to possible legislation legalizing same-sex marriage but he is yet to make a final decision on his stance. MANILA, Philippines – “Definitely, the gays were created by God…God made them so medyo nagkamali yung bilangan diyan sa Bible (there is a slight error in the Bible).