President Rodrigo Duterte declaring a revolutionary government is like overthrowing himself before reinstalling himself to power which is similar, in some way, to US President Donald Trump claiming he talked to the president of the US Virgin Islands, which is him, Mr. Duterte’s critics said.
“Yes, it sounds like that,” Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin said when asked about Mr. Duterte’s threat to install a revolutionary government.
Mr. Duterte has always expressed admiration for Trump, who praised his war on drugs.
“It is only through people’s power that a revolutionary government is installed, not through sheer abuse of power against our people. It is people overthrowing a regime that has lost its legitimacy and moral authority to govern,” Villarin said.
In a statement, the coalition Movement Against Tyranny (MAT) said on Sunday that Mr. Duterte’s revolutionary government “is nothing else but the one-man dictatorship that he has been repeatedly dreaming of since last year.”
“He wants to further dismantle whatever little is left of the system of checks and balances,” the group said.
“He aims to further intimidate the critical press and overwhelm social media with his fake news-churning troll army,” MAT said.
The group warned that Mr. Duterte’s “revolutionary government … will trample on people’s democratic rights.”
But MAT declared that their group would fight any attempt by Mr. Duterte to stifle dissent and control the country. “We will not be cowed. We will not be silenced,” MAT said.