Duterte: No revolutionary gov’t because Leni said so

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, in his speech during the meeting with Filipinos residing in Vietnam at the Pulchra Resort in Da Nang City on November 9, 2017. PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

DA NANG, Vietnam—“She’s correct.”

President Duterte on Thursday night acknowledged that Vice President Leni Robredo was “correct” in saying that the military would not support a revolutionary government in the Philippines.

“She’s correct. I asked the military. They said, ‘We won’t support a revolutionary government,” the President said.

“Why?, (I asked), and they said,  ‘Because Vice President Robredo said it … We like her more. She’s a woman and does not cuss.’  I said, ‘OK, then we will not have a revolutionary government,’” Mr. Duterte said.

In October, the President threatened to form a “revolutionary government” if opposition groups, which he accused of trying to destabilize the government, turn violent and sow chaos.  He claimed that communist groups as well as allies of the opposition Liberal Party were out to oust him.

Robredo on Wednesday said Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Lt. Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero had assured her “in no uncertain terms” that the military “would not support a revolutionary government and (other) threats to the Constitution.”

She added: “We (were) asking because there are government officials involved in talks about a revolutionary government. But this afternoon, we were assured—and the assurance was strong—that (the military) would not support such a plan.”