Duterte admits being in Holy Land made him cry

September 3, 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte has admitted that being in Holy Land made him cry.

In a speech before the Filipino community in Israel shortly after his arrival Sunday (Israel time), Duterte immediately said he believes in God.

He made the clarification after he called before God as "stupid."

"You know, I seldom cry. I could remember maybe the times that I cried, when my father and mother died. But rare, very rare, " Duterte said.

His visit to Jerusalem could be the time again that he cried.

"I really do not know. But this is the first time that I wept that I'm with my fellow Filipinos. May be because I am here in Holy Land," he said.

"And do not believe...I did not say that I don't believe in God. What I said is, 'I don't want to believe your God'," the President added, referring to his previous speeches calling God of the Catholic Church as stupid after some prelates continued to criticize his bloody war on drugs.

"You know when you attack me in public using God as a platform picturing me or portraying me as a devil or - you open the issue to debate," he said.

He said he believes in the supreme God that his father and mother passed into him.

"So don't believe in the intrigue that I don't believe in God," Duterte added. Celerina Monte/DMS