Duterte says coup vs P-Noy to make PH ‘international pariah’

DAVAO CITY—Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, key proponent of a shift to a federal system, warned detractors of President Aquino against pulling off a coup to unseat the President amid continuing public criticisms of his handling of the debacle that government critics said sent 44 elite police commandos to their deaths in an operation to kill or capture international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan.”

“We can become an international pariah,” said Duterte, also one of many officials calling on Mr. Aquino to admit responsibility for the debacle in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao province.

“The international community will never look kindly at a nation ruled by a military junta,” Duterte said before members of the Rotary International at the L’Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City on Friday, one of the mayor’s stops in his “Listening Tour” campaign to push for federalism.

In a press release on the Bacolod stop issued by his camp, Duterte said he heard talk about coup from retired and active military and police officers in the days following the Special Action Force (SAF) operation against Marwan, which ended in the deaths of 44 SAF men, 17 Moro rebels and three civilians.

Duterte said forcing Mr. Aquino to step down before the end of his last few months in office will do more harm than good for the country.

“Some people may not be happy with the way the President explained his side on the Mamasapano disaster but staging a coup will create more problems,” he said.

He also said war is not the solution to problems in Mindanao and would only further impoverish its people.

“Let us rise above our national outrage and anger to find a way to resolve the conflict through peaceful means,” said Duterte. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao