THE camp of presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte on Monday rebuked the ruling Liberal Party for describing him as a “threat to democracy” and whose politics was a “politics of fear.”
Peter Laviña, the Davao City Mayor’s spokesman, said the real threat to democracy was the Liberal Party clique and the ruling elite whose only concern was protecting their interests.
“Like the rest of the presidential candidates who are threatened by a Duterte presidency, Roxas and his minions fear they will lose the trappings of that political power they have been holding on and clinging to for so long,” Laviña said.
Roxas on Monday described Duterte as a “threat to democracy” and a liar, comparing him to the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
“Duterte is the most dangerous thing to happen to our country since Ferdinand Marcos,” Roxas said.
“He’s a threat to democracy because it’s his way or no way. He is a threat to our way of life because if you will confront him with the truth, he will answer you with invectives, insults or bullets.”
Meanwhile, vice presidential candidate Antonio Trillanes warned the electorate against the “false hopes and promises” of his rival Alan Peter Cayetano and Duterte that they could wipe out criminality in three to six months.
“Get real, who are you kidding?” Trillanes told Cayetano.
After news broke that Duterte topped the latest SWS survey—the same survey that placed Roxas second to last—Akbayan partylist Rep. and LP spokesman Barry Gutierrez slammed Duterte and described his politics as the “politics of fear.”
But Laviña said Roxas’ camp was now rattled by the looming defeat of their standard bearer.
“It is not democracy that is being threatened by Duterte. It is Mar Roxas and his ambition to become president and the ruling class, the same ruling class represented by Poe and Binay,” Laviña said.
“At the very least, these candidates offer blind servitude to their elite masters—something that cannot be expected of Duterte.”
Laviña said Duterte’s support was coming from ordinary people: the farmers, workers, the members of the lower and upper middle class and a section of the elite.
“These are the people that the camp of Roxas and the other presidential candidates are afraid of—the people they have angered and alienated by their inept leadership,” Laviña said.
“The camp of Roxas is raising the bogeys and shadows of their own doings.”
Gutierrez, Laviña said, only needed to look at his own party to know the real threat to democracy.
“Look at what this government did to the farmers of North Cotabato,” Laviña said.
“The farmers were hungry but instead of giving them food, what the Aquino government did was to murder them. That’s your threat to democracy and politics of fear, Mr. Gutierrez.”