PRESIDENTIAL race front runner Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday denied having any plans to be a dictator should he win the presidency.
Speaking before 550,000 supporters during his miting de avance at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, the tough-talking mayor of Davao City said he could only establish a revolutionary government in the event of a coup d’etat.
“There are those who say I would declare martial law, a revolutionary government. I will not do it,” Duterte said.
“What I said is that if you stage a mutiny, I will establish a revolutionary government. If you destroy the government, I have to protect it.
“How dare you. Corruption and dictatorship? I will declare a revolutionary government if you plan a coup d’etat with Trillanes,” he said, addressing President Benigno Aquino III.
Aquino has said Duterte is a threat to democracy, while vice presidential bet Antonio Trillanes IV has accused Duterte of undeclared deposits at the Bank of the Philippine Islands’ Julia Vargas branch in Pasig City.
Duterte said there were laws to be followed and that he could not just kill people.
“There are laws, and I intend to enforce them,” Duterte said.
“You want due process, presumption of innocence. By all means, I will give them to you. But I will never allow you to destroy the children or my country.”
Duterte promised to give the people a comfortable life and a clean government.
He took a swipe at the President and Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas II for promoting hatred and division “as if their party is all that matters in the world.”
“So I said, I will not die if I do not become the president. But these people, see how they are trying to promote divisiveness in this country. [Senator Grace] Poe is much better,” Duterte said.
He slammed Aquino and Roxas for their last-ditch effort for an alliance with Poe and the other presidential bets to prevent a Duterte presidency.
He promised to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Mindanao.
