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A leading candidate for the Philippines presidency could, if elected, be the first survivor of clergy sexual abuse to be a head-of-state.
Rodrigo Duterte, the long time mayor of Davao City, has said he was abused at the Ateneo de Davao High School, a Jesuit-run school, in the late 1950s.
Duterte recently surged to the top of opinion polls in a five-way race for the country’s presidency ahead of national elections on May 9.
He only came forward with the abuse charge after he came under fire for “cursing” of Pope Francis during the Pontiff’s visit to the Philippines last year.
Duterte warned late last year that if the Philippines’ bishops did not back off criticism, he would tell of abuse of minors, including himself.
In the wake of those comments, the school, the Society of Jesus, and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines all asked Duterte to provide details about his allegation.
In a subsequent press conference, Duterte named an American Jesuit priest named Falvey as his abuser.
Fr Mark Falvey, who died in 1975, has also been accused of various acts of abuse in the Los Angeles area between 1959 and 1975.
Records indicate that Fr Falvey was working in Asia in the 1950s before returning to Los Angeles in 1959.
But the records aren’t definitive about whether he was at the Davao school during the time Duterte was enrolled.
During a press conference in December, 2015, Duterte described the abuse as a matter of unwanted “fondling” that took place in the context of the sacrament of Confession, and said the experience contributed to his sexual “awakening”.
Duterte said the priest also molested other high school students at the time.
The Davao mayor also said he had no intention of suing the Church for damages, as the Church would get the people to pay.
He said he had forgiven his abuser.
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests, told Crux that he’s not aware of another head of state who’s also been a survivor of clerical sexual abuse.
Politically, Duterte has a reputation as tough on crime, acquiring the nickname as “the punisher”.
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