President Rodrigo Duterte speaks at the Bangsamoro Assembly in Sultan Kudarat on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. (Photo from an RTVM video)
President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said the military will overthrow him if he attempts to establish a dictatorship in the country.
Mr. Duterte also said that putting up a revolutionary government (RevGov) was a “very extreme measure” that he would resort to only if the government was in imminent danger of being toppled.
“If you overstay…I become a dictator? The military will do me in same with what happened in the past,” the President said in a speech before an anti-corruption summit in Pasay City.
“You overstay and you abuse…there will always be (coup) attempts that will be done. Or mutiny for that matter,” he added.
The President said that establishing a revolutionary government at this time was like “looking for a headache.”
“I’d go to RevGov only if the ship of state is about to sink…maybe I’d be forced. That is a very extreme measure,” Mr. Duterte said.
“That is just a story. And you believe it?” he added.
Malacañang on Monday said there was no “factual or legal basis” for President Rodrigo Duterte to declare a RevGov even as his supporters across the country plan to gather on Thursday to urge him to do so.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the administration saw no credible or imminent threat that would convince the President to declare a revolutionary government.
“We appreciate the calls of the President’s supporters for RevGov but I think there’s no factual or legal basis as of now because the President has said he would consider a revolutionary government if destabilizers will persist in their plan to have him removed from office,” Roque said in a press briefing in Mindanao.
“Now, I stress we don’t see any threat, any such threat in the near future,” he added.