Three years into his presidency, Rodrigo Duterte has escalated his confrontation with two forces at opposite ends of Philippine society -- the powerful Catholic Church hierarchy and the country's communist rebels.
He has directly threatened priests, ubiquitous in a largely Catholic country, while also calling for the military to "pulverize" the small bands of communist fighters who have a long-lasting low-level guerrilla campaign in the jungles of Mindanao island.
