Vice President Leni Robredo. INQUIRER.net file photo / Noy Morcoso
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday blasted the call for a revolutionary government among the administration’s supporters which she called “illegal” as it aims to “overthrow” the country’s Constitution.
Earlier, a group called Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte-National Executive Coordinating Committee (MRRD-NECC) launched the movement in support of a revolutionary government led by the Duterte administration which will fast-track federalism.
“Ang laking kalokohan niyan, Ka Ely. Una, ano ba iyong gustong sabihin ng call for revolutionary government? Ang gustong sabihin, ang hinihingi dito, itapon iyong Konstitusyon natin. Diyan pa lang, ilegal na iyan,” Robredo said in her weekly show with co-host Ely Saludar.
(That’s nonsense, Ely. First, what do they want to convey by calling for a revolutionary government? What they’re asking for is to throw our Constitution away. That’s illegal.)
Robredo stressed the administration should not entertain such calls and instead focus on the ongoing health crisis posed by COVID-19.
“Tapos ito ay supporters ng Pangulo. Sana iyong mga kasama ni Pangulo, hindi hinahayaan na bumuwelo ang mga ganito. Kasi ito talaga iyong panira, Ka Ely, sa lahat na ginagawa natin, lalo na ngayong pandemic,” Robredo said.
(These are supporters of the President. I hope the President’s allies will not let things like this start. This distracts us from what we are doing in the midst of a pandemic.)
“Sa panahon na lahat na Pilipino dapat nagtutulong-tulong para masugpo iyong COVID—ang dami-dami nating mga kababayan na nagkakasakit, ang dami-dami nating kababayan na namamatay, ang daming frontliners ang nakataya ang buhay—tapos ang pag-uusapan natin ganito? Parang hindi siya makatarungan,” she went on.
(In a time when Filipinos should be helping each other to beat COVID, many of our countrymen are getting sick, frontliners’ lives are on the line, and yet there are talks about this? It’s not fair.)
Malacañang already disowned calls for a revolutionary group and said it came from a “private group.”
It also said that the Duterte administration’s focus is on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both the Philippine National Police and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also thumbed down the group’s call for a revolutionary government.