Palace: Duterte’s threat of revolutionary gov’t an ‘expression of frustration’
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte’s renewed threat to declare a revolutionary government is an expression of his frustration and a warning to transgressors, Malacañang said Monday.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo made the statement following criticisms on the chief executive’s alleged disregard of the Constitution and the rule of law.
Last week, Duterte threatened to declare a revolutionary government, suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and arrest critics—an outburst believed to be prompted by the call of Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon for the administration to exercise caution when reviewing government contracts.
But Panelo said Duterte’s remark “was more of an exasperated expression and again to put on notice the transgressors that he will not just sit idly and watch them do illegal things.”
He said that the chief executive was not threatening the public when he floated that he would declare a revolutionary war or a revolutionary government.
“The threat, if it is a threat, is not against the people but precisely against their enemies, the criminals, the people manning the illegal drug industry, the corrupt bureaucrats, the greedy politicians, the communist rebels, foreign and local terrorists, and other enemies of the state,” Panelo said.
Duterte’s spokesman added: “When the very democratic institutions are being used to the detriment of the people and have become illusory for the people’s interest; when their safety is imperiled, when the territorial integrity is at stake, and when the enemies of the republic are bent on bringing it down, then it becomes the constitutional duty of the president to quell the attacks on the people and to save the state.”
Vice President Leni Robredo, however, stressed that declaring a revolutionary government runs against Duterte’s duties as a president as it is in the chief executive’s oath to protect and uphold the Constitution.
On Sunday, Robredo said she is “ready” to carry out her mandate if Duterte makes good his threat to declare a revolutionary government.
In 2017, Duterte said he would set up a revolutionary government and declare all state posts vacant if the country plunges into chaos because of alleged destabilization plots against him. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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