Duterte: ‘I’m not Marcos… no nationwide martial law’

“Why do you have to compare me with Marcos?”

President Rodrigo Duterte had this to say after he was asked if he would declare martial law nationwide following the grant of Congress to his martial law extension in Mindanao.

Duterte was referring to former President Ferdinand Marcos who put the whole Philippines under martial rule from 1972 to 1981.

“Why do you have to compare me with Marcos? I am not Marcos. I may not be as brilliant as Marcos, but definitely I am more attuned to my values in life,” he said in a press briefing after his second State of the Nation Address (Sona) at the Batasang Pambansa.

The martial law regime under Marcos had been tainted with human violations and extrajudicial killings.

“Ang values ni Marcos is not necessarily mine just because there is martial law,” Duterte said.

Declaring a nationwide martial law, he said, would make him “look stupid.”

“No nationwide martial law. Why? Because I will look stupid before the eyes of the public if I do that. And I don’t want to be called stupid,” he said.

The President had earlier said he would declare a nationwide martial law if Islamic State terrorists reach Luzon and Visayas. /atm