Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte says “God warned him to stop swearing”

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte known for profanity has promised to stop swearing, after revealing that God spoke to him on a flight back home from Japan on Thursday, warning him that He would crash the plane if he kept using foul language.

Duterte who had in the past called the pope a ‘son of a bitch’ and famously told US president Barack Obama to ‘go to hell’, says he has promised God he won’t swear again after he heard a voice from God telling him to stop his bad language.

Speaking at a news conference on arrival in his home city of Davo on Thursday, Duterte said;

"I was looking at the skies while I was coming over here ... everybody was asleep, snoring, but a voice said that, 'you know, if you don't stop epithets, I will bring this plane down now'."

"And I said, 'who is this?' So, of course, it's God. OK.

"So, I promise God ... not to express slang, cuss words and everything."

Duterte’s has waged a massive war against illegal drug dealers which has left thousands of people dead since he took office in June.