Duterte: I salute liberals like the Pope

Despite his repeated criticisms of the Catholic Church, President Rodrigo Duterte expressed his approval of Pope Francis whom he once cursed for allegedly causing traffic during his visit to the Philippines in 2015.

“Itong pope ngayon, progressive ‘to. Diyan ako, bilib ako. Saludo talaga ako dito,” Duterte said on Thursday during the unveiling of the marker of Mella Hotel in Las Piñas City.

A "progressive" is a person advocating or implementing social reform or new, liberal ideas. Words synonymous to "progressive" are innovator, reformer, reformist, liberal and libertarian.

Even with his approval of the Pope, it did not stop Duterte from attacking the Catholic Church, who has been critical of his war on drugs and criminality.

SOURCE: Nestor Corrales (2018). Duterte on Pope Francis: ‘Bilib ako, saludo talaga ako’. @NCorralesINQ. INQUIRER.net. 08:39 AM December 14, 2018. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1063124/duterte-on-pope-francis-bilib-ako-saludo-talaga-ako

Progressivism is the support for or advocacy of improvement of society by reform. As a philosophy, it is based on the idea of progress, which asserts that advancements in science, technology, economic development and social organization are vital to the improvement of the human condition. Liberalism is divided between moderates and progressives, with the moderates tending to elitism and the progressives supporting the universalization of fundamental institutions, such as universal suffrage, universal education and the expansion of property rights. Over time, the moderates displaced the progressives as the main guardians of continental European liberalism. SOURCES: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivism