Duterte’s revolutionary gov’t a ‘dictatorship,’ says anti-tyranny group

President Rodrigo Duterte’s idea of a “revolutionary government” is nothing but a “one-man dictatorship,” a militant coalition against tyranny said on Sunday.

“Duterte merely wants to concentrate all governmental power to himself as President. He wants to further dismantle whatever little is left of the system of checks and balances provided by a rubber stamp Congress, a Supreme Court dominated by his and former Pres. Arroyo’s appointees, and easily intimidated Constitutional bodies like the Office of the Ombudsman and Commission on Human Rights,” Movement Against Tyranny said in a statement.

“He aims to further intimidate the critical press and overwhelm social media with his fake news-churning troll army,” it added.

The group also accused the President of planning to declare martial law to allegedly impose his “revolutionary” regime on the people.

But Duterte earlier denied claims that he would impose martial law.

In an interview with the government-run TV station PTV broadcast on Friday night, the President said he would rather declare a revolutionary government than martial law, amid alleged destabilization plots against him.

“Pag ang destabilization ninyo patagilid na and medyo magulo na (If your destabilization is worsening and it is becoming chaotic), I will not hesitate to declare a revolutionary government until the end of my term, and I will arrest all of you and we can go to a full scale war against the Reds,” Duterte said during the interview.

READ: Duterte threatens to adopt Cory’s revolutionary style gov’t vs destab plotters

The anti-tyranny group denounced Duterte’s statement as it vowed not to waver in their fight for democracy.

“We will not be cowed. We will not be silenced,” it said. /je