Locked horns persisted yesterday on the current hullabaloo about comments made by President Rodrigo Duterte against the clergy and God but first daughter Davao City Mayor “Inday” Sara Duterte-Carpio said the public should not listen to the President when he interprets “the bible or the quran.”

Duterte-Carpio said in a social media post that his father is not a priest nor a pastor or an imam to make religious interpretations.

“He is the President, listen only when he speaks about his work. And criticize him on his work not on his ‘talkkalese,’” she added.

She advised those listening to Mr. Duterte not to waste “your negative energy on his interpretation of the bible, that is his opinion.”

“He is protected by the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression even if he is President,” she added.

For presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, meanwhile, the President is getting brickbats for his comments, particularly on supposedly calling the God of the bible “stupid,” from the Catholic Church because its officials are merely sour-graping.

Roque said the Church has been critical of Duterte because the candidate they supported during the May 2016 elections lost.

Although Roque did not identify which candidate the clergy supported in the 2016 polls, he said the clergy may be “sour-graping” after the mandate given by the people to Duterte.

“The truth is that from the start, the Catholic Church has resentment to President Duterte so the clerics never let up on him and now that he won, they can’t accept it,” Roque said in a radio interview.

The presidential spokesperson also called on the Church to stop being “onion-skinned.”

“It should not be the Catholic Church that should always hurl criticisms at the President and, when it is the President’s turn, the Church won’t accept it,” Roque said.

Mr. Duterte said that he deliberately made the allegations on God to “shake the tree.”

“I am doing it deliberately. You know why? This country is in the doldrums. I am shaking the tree to see that they are alive. I am shaking the tree so even my words are rude and I am trying to see the boundaries (of free expression),” the President said.

Vatican’s representative to the Philippines, meanwhile, invited Mr. Duterte to attend the Day of the Pope celebration in his Manila residence on June 29.

Italian Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia is currently the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.

Pastor Boy Saycon of the EDSA People Power Commission bared this during the first meeting between the three-man team formed by Duterte to initiate talks with the Catholic church and other religious leaders on Wednesday held at the Greenhills Christian Fellowship (GCF) headquarters in Ortigas.

“The Papal Nuncio has invited the President because it’s the Day of the Pope,” Saycon said in a press briefing.

Aside from Saycon, Roque and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ernesto Abella are part of the three-man panel.

Roque confirmed Saycon’s announcement, saying the invitation was forwarded to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

“I think there’s an invitation which was issued for the President to attend the eve of the Pope’s Day celebration at the Papal Nuncio’s residence,” Roque said.

“But I will check first because apparently the invitation was forwarded to the Department of Foreign Affairs so I will call the office if there’s any information on this invitation,” he added.

However, Roque said that he did not know if Duterte’s schedule would allow the President to attend the celebration.

“I do not know if the schedule of the President will permit it and I do not know if the President will ask the three of us to go to represent him,” he added.

Saycon said the three-man panel will also have an initial talk with the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) today as the bishops have a scheduled enclave in Tagaytay over the weekend.

Duterte formed the three-man committee after several religious leaders took notice of his bitter remarks about God and the Catholic church in his speech at the recent National ICT Summit in Davao City.

For religious leaders, however, calling God “stupid” is not only blasphemous but a clear violation of the Constitution as well.

Jesus is Lord (JIL) founder Bro. Eddie Villanueva, on the recent tirades of President Duterte against God and the Catholic Church, noted the President clearly committed a constitutional violation because the country’s Constitution also believes in God.

Roque said that he will also try to schedule a meeting between Duterte and the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) leaders, stressing the importance of moving forward from their public tiff.

“I will try to schedule a meeting between the President and the PCEC because it is important to start not just the dialogue but what could be done by PCEC to start the process of healing and moving forward,” Roque said.

Roque hoped that leaders of the Catholic church will sit down with the panel after their scheduled gathering in Tagaytay.

“We exerted all efforts to initiate the dialogue with the Catholic church but there is a gathering of bishops in Tagaytay that’s why we were not accommodated but we hope that after that meeting in Tagaytay they will give that opportunity,” Roque added.