Coup talk hounds presidential front-runner

Rodrigo Duterte’s rollicking ride to presidential favoritism as an antiestablishment politician has triggered warnings of a coup should he win next week’s election, with opponents branding him a dictator in the making.

The country has endured a tumultuous democracy since millions of people took to the streets to overthrow dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, with a succession of leaders having to quell military unrest and one President ousted in another uprising.

Duterte is enjoying a double-digit lead over his rivals ahead of Monday’s presidential election, but he has created enemies with vows to embrace communist rebels and threats to abolish Congress or create a revolutionary government that could rewrite the Constitution.

“The moment he tries to declare a revolutionary government, that is also going to be the day he will be removed from office,” Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a former Navy officer famous for leading failed military uprisings in 2003 and 2007, said on Wednesday. “This guy has no respect for democratic institutions.”

Trillanes said some in the military were “strongly averse” to Duterte’s long-standing ties with communists, and that the reaction “could be violent.”

Communists in the Philippines are waging one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies, with tens of thousands killed since the rebellion began in 1969. Dozens still die each year as the communists retain support among the poor.

Duterte has ruled Davao City, which was one of the communist hot spots, as mayor for most of the past two decades, ending violence there by forging close ties with the rebels.

He has vowed to offer communist leaders posts in his government.

He has also raised deep fears about the rule of law under his presidency, promising to kill tens of thousands of criminals and pardon himself for mass murder.

On some occasions while campaigning Duterte has boasted about wanting to set up a dictatorship, and praised Marcos, but other times said the opposite.

‘Dictators in the lead’

President Aquino has spoken out repeatedly in recent weeks about his concerns that Duterte could turn into a dictator.

“Now that we are free, people who act like dictators are the ones in the lead,” the President said on Wednesday, warning that the gains of democracy were in jeopardy.

Ashley Acedillo, another coup plotter-turned-lawmaker, said that a “military intervention” was likely under a Duterte presidency. “The Armed Forces will stand true to its constitutional duty to protect the people and the state,” he said.

The warnings are not bluster, according to security analyst Rommel Banlaoi. “We will face a Duterte government that is very unstable,” he said.

Duterte has gained support across all sectors of society by fashioning himself as an antiestablishment politician who can achieve quick fixes to deep-rooted problems, such as crime and poverty,

according to analysts.

End crime in 6 months

He has promised to end crime within six months of his presidency by ordering security forces to go on a killing spree, as well as increasing the salaries of soldiers and troops.

He has been accused of running vigilante squads in Davao that have killed more than 1,000 suspected criminals. At times he has boasted about his involvement but on other occasions denied any links to the death squads.

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