Roxas: I will lead fight against ‘dictator’ Duterte

Mar Roxas and Rodrigo Duterte INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas will not allow Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, whom he said takes rape lightly, to lead the country.

“I do not want our country’s President to be someone who views these grave matters as Duterte does, as though one can joke lightly about them. It is not right, and I will not permit it,” Roxas said in a statement he delivered while in Calbayog City in Samar province.

Reiterating his views on the mayor’s style of leadership, Roxas vowed to lead the fight against the Duterte, whom he called a “dictator” and “the biggest and gravest threat to our democracy.”

READ: Duterte a threat to democracy – Roxas

“We have seen this in how he carries himself; we have seen this through his opinions; we have seen this in how he acts, with his viewpoint as the only valid one. Judge, jury, executioner. He is all of those. Only his viewpoint is allowed in his ideal society,” said Roxas.

Now that the country is enjoying what it achieved in its fight for democracy, Roxas feared that “there is another individual who seeks to lord it over us,” apparently referring to Duterte.

“The opposite of that mindset is the Daang Matuwid, where we recognize our countrymen as the bosses. This is why I will lead the fight against Mayor Duterte. I will do all in my power to stop him because I do not want a dictatorship in our nation.”

Roxas made this strong message after Duterte came under fire for making fun of Australian rape victim Jacqueline Hamill in one of his sorties. Duterte refused to apologize for his controversial remarks.
READ: Despite outcry over rape ‘joke,’ Duterte refuses to say sorry

“He has no respect. The most recent proof of this is his joke about a missionary who was raped. She was a missionary, an innocent person who was helping our countrymen. She was raped. I assume you have heard what Mayor Duterte said about this—that he wishes he could have had her first. Was that the right thing to say?

“Rape is personal to the victim. In fact, each crime is personal to its victim. They are the victims, and it is obviously a serious matter to them. The effects are not limited to the physical. Rape violates one’s dignity. Rape is not just a crime of sex. Rape is a crime of control. Rape is a crime of subjugation. What differentiates torture from rape? In torture, you handcuff a person and subject him to things that he dislikes. Rape is the same. So this is a serious matter,” said Roxas.

The former Interior secretary also pointed out that Duterte’s promise to eradicate crime within three to six months is founded on lies.

“But he’s led Davao for over twenty years—and Davao City is number one in murder incidence in the entire Philippines. Number two for rape incidence. Number three for homicide incidence in the entire country. No one can say that Davao City is a good example, is the model when it comes to anti-criminality, when criminality is so widespread in Davao City. Even drugs, which Mayor Duterte says makes him extremely angry. Wherever you go, you can buy drugs in Davao City. They’re extremely cheap. Davao City is overrun with drugs,” he said.

Debunking claims that Davao City is one of the safest cities, Roxas questioned Duterte’s capability of addressing problems in the country if he cannot do it in the city that he was governing.

Then Roxas hit Duterte again for his pro-New People’s Army (NPA) stance.

“Third, he wants to be president of our country. Part of that is being commander-in-chief. How will he be a good commander-in-chief, if he’s on the side of—if he’s allied with, and supports the NPA, who kill our soldiers and policemen?

“That isn’t right. These illegal—these criminal, rebel NPA members shouldn’t be coddled. They collect revolutionary taxes not only from businessmen, but also from ordinary farmers. Every sitio, barangay the NPA visit, they ask for rice, food, and other kinds of “taxes.” That’s what they call the revolutionary tax,” he said.

READ: Duterte cheers rebels: ‘Mabuhay ang NPA’

Duterte once said in his earlier engagements that businessmen and politicians should pay the communist rebels the revolutionary taxes and permits to campaign.

“The contractors of the roads we’re building—the NPA also tax them. That’s why it becomes more expensive, why construction is so slow, why it takes so long. In some areas, no one wants to bid, because the NPA “taxes” those who construct roads and bridges in different parts of the country,” said Roxas.

“That is why, Mayor Duterte, I will be your enemy. I will not allow a dictatorship in our country.” JE

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