A southern Philippine town mayor who just declared he is running for president in 2016 is at the center of a media storm for his cursing Pope Francis last week when he announced his candidacy.
But it is not just his foul language directed at the pontiff that could affect the chances of Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who topped a pre-election survey in Metro Manila after he declared his candidacy. Even before he said he would run, there are questions on the way he runs his province.
Although Duterte has brought criminality down in Davao City, he has done it at the expense of respecting the justice system since he has taken the law in his hands and admits to killing criminals. In fact, improving peace and order nationwide with an iron hand is how he intends to rule the Philippines if he wins in 2016.
Also affecting his election bid are his admission that he has mistresses, while his former wife has allegedly come out in public and admits to being a battered wife when she was still living with Duterte.
But the biggest controversy is when he said in Pilipino language, "Son of a bitch, Pope Francis, go back home. Don't visit us," when he was stuck for five hours on the way to the airport in January in Metro Manila because of the pope's visit to the country to commiserate with victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan.
Top church leaders commented on Duterte's remarks, while many Filipino voters who initially were considering voting for the mayor expressed having second thoughts in view of these issues.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz said on Monday that a person like Duterte is dangerous if he wins the presidential election because he could be worse than a dictator.
Bishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, points out that killing people and adultery are forms of corruption too. Commenting on the use of the SOB word on the pope, Villegas says, "When a revered and loved and admired man like Pope Francis is cursed by a political candidate and the audience laugh, I can only bow my head and grieve in great shame. My countrymen has gone to the dregs."
Duterte has also admitted to having two wives and two girlfriends. His first wife is sick and the second wife is from Bulacan province who worked as a nurse in the U.S. One of his two mistresses is a cashier and the other an employees of a cosmetic store at a mall, reports Inquirer.
A photo of one of his girlfriends seated on his lap and kissing Duterte is circulating on social media. Meanwhile, there is also a post allegedly made by his first wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman-Duterte, where she states that she separated from Duterte because she was an emotionally and physically battered wife.
Duterte claims he directed the curse at the traffic in Metro Manila and not at the pope.