(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte met overseas Filipino workers in Israel and thanked the state of Israel for “being good to my countrymen.”
The President told the Filipino community who warmly welcomed him at the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem on September 2, that this was the first time that he cried in visiting a place and in seeing them.
“Maybe because nandito ako sa Holy Land,” he said.
“Hindi ko sinabing hindi ako naniniwala sa Diyos,” Duterte said clarifying earlier reports after he lambasted Catholic clergy.
“Sinabi ko lang ayaw kong maniwala sa diyos mo. You know when you attack me in public, using God as a platform, picturing me as a devil, you open the issue to debate,” he said again referring to Catholic Church leaders.
The President said that he believes in the “Supreme God” as what he had been taught to him by his parents.
“Intriga lang yun, pulitika lang yan na hindi ako naniniwala sa Diyos.. .Those are politics,” he said.
President Duterte also told OFWs in Israel that his wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman, and her family were among the more than 1,200 Jews from Europe who sought sanctuary in Philippines to escape persecution because of the Holocaust.
“Ang asawa ko Zimmerman, one of the few na pumunta sa Pilipinas noon, when there was war in Europe they were there to seek sanctuary, to avoid the trouble of the time.. persecution,” the President said.
“And my daughter is Zimmerman, one of the descendants nila..,” he said referring to now Davao City mayor Sara Duterte.
The President said he is very thankful to Israel for treating Filipinos working there very well.
He said that if it would even be allowed, he would like all OFWs to just work in Israel because of the better treatment they will receive.
“You are far better, luckier, and happier here,” he said.
Duterte met with around 1,400 Filipinos who warmly welcome him and the Philippine delegation during the Filipino Community Meeting at the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem on September 2.
According to H.E. Nathaniel Imperial, Philippine Ambassador to the State of Israel, there are an estimated 28,000 Filipinos working and residing in Israel.
President Duterte is the first Philippine president to visit Israel.
(Eagle News Service)