PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday shot down rumors he would be setting up a revolutionary government, saying he would no longer use it against destabilizers planning against his administration.
“Don’t believe talks about coups…Let us just build a country,” the President said in Tagalog and English in his first speech before the military in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.
Duterte reiterated the same before soldiers in a separate event, when he honored soldiers who fought in the Marawi siege.
But he clarified that while he would no longer declare a revolutionary government, he would just proceed with the arrests of those planning against him.
“From now on, I will decide on my own time when I will make it official that they are officially connected with the conspiracy and I’ll have to arrest them.” he said. On Saturday, Duterte said he would only declare a revolutionary government if “things go out of control” and the government was in danger of being overthrown violently.
He also accused the media of “chopping” his statements to make it appear that he was doing so.
Earlier, Duterte said he would set up a revolutionary government and declare all state posts vacant if the Philippines plunged into chaos because of the alleged destabilization plots against him.
“If I declare a revolutionary government, you are all arrested; I am not scaring you,” Duterte told state-run PTV 4 last October.
Then President Corazon Aquino established a revolutionary government following the ouster of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
She abolished the 1973 Constitution and promulgated the provisional Freedom Constitution pending the ratification of the 1987 Constitution.
A revolutionary government allowed Aquino to declare all positions vacant and overhaul the bureaucracy.
In the Senate, Senator Panfilo Lacson said no revolutionary government under the administration of Duterte would prosper since it did not have the support of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
He said the military had spoken that it would not support, and “rightly so because who will support a revolutionary government which in the first place is not even found in the Constitution?”
“And even the military and defense establishments, they already said their piece—they will not support a revolutionary government. So who will? Nobody,” added Lacson in an ambush interview.
The former PNP chief said he did not believe the President was serious in his threat of a revolutionary government, also because the Filipino people would not back it.
He pointed out that Duterte would not establish a revolutionary government especially if there was no people’s revolution to happen.
“I don’t think he’s serious and that the military had spoken. Who will implement a revolutionary government… a revolutionary form if there’s no support from the armed forces?” he asked.
“I don’t think he will,” said Lacson, who also belongs to the majority bloc in the Senate.
Unlike martial law in 1972, he said there was suspension of writ and was in the Constitution under certain circumstances.
“But a revolutionary government may only be established after a revolution. There’s no revolution like a change of leadership because of a revolution like [in the case of] former President [Cory] Aquino, there was a revolutionary government that was lifted immediately to be back to normalcy,” explained Lacson.
Aquino established a revolutionary government that lasted for a year and a half after the February 1986 People Power Revolution that toppled strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
He noted that Mrs. Aquino also abrogated the 1973 Constitution and appointed a Constitutional Commission to craft a new Charter, which was ratified in February 1987.
Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV also echoed the views of Lacson. He believes the military will not support a revolutionary government.
He said the mandate of the military was very clear—they would uphold the Constitution. “That’s simple, no debates among the soldiers.”
“If the President went outside the Constitution, he was the one rebellious,” stressed Trillanes.
The former navy captain also said the President merely wanted to scare his critics with this kind of threat due to his “stupidity.”
“What he wants to do is set aside the law, the Constitution so he can do what he wanted,” said Trillanes.
He dismissed the President’s threat as a mere tactic to scare his critics.
Meanwhile, Lacson rejected the assertion of Senator Francis Pangilinan that a revolutionary government was similar to dictatorship.
He said the creation of a revolutionary govenrment would not even be unconstitutional since it was not in the Constitution.
“No basis actually. We can have a revolutionary government after a revolution just like what the late President Cory [Aquino] did. But what would he the basis? Martial Law had a basis in the Constitution, there were requirements,” said Lacson
He also challenged the public to look for a provision in the Constitution under certain circumstances when the administration could establish a revolutionary government.
But Lacson admitted he did not know the motive of Duterte in making the threat.
Pangilinan, also Liberal Party president, raised alarm over Duterte’s threat of a revolutionary government, stressing it was just the same with dictatorship.
“No more democracy, freedom of the press and freedom of speech,” said Pangilinan.
Pangilnan also warned there would be no more elections if Duterte pushes through with his threat as there would only be term extension for incumbents and appointments, the opposition leader said.
“No more hindrance to sell our lands and seas to China. No one can express dissent to the government’s wrongdoings as those who oppose will be imprisoned.”
The senator added this would result in “unparalleled abuse, killings and corruption.”
“Just like the excessively abusive war against drugs, [revolutionary government] will be abusive as well,” he said.
Senator Leila M. de Lima esrlier warned of a military takeover if Duterte pushed through with his threat to declare a revolutionary government to quell destabilization plans by some quarters.
De Lima, a staunch defender of democracy and freedom, cautioned the public that Duterte could be forcibly removed from his office if he insisted on declaring a revolutionary government to crush communists and those whom he perceived to be “enemies of the state.”
“Those asking for a so-called RevGov or revolutionary government under Duterte should be careful what they wish for,” she said.
“A revolutionary government means the abrogation of the Constitution, the only thing that is keeping Duterte president of the country. Without the Constitution, there is no longer any legal basis for keeping Duterte in power,” she added.