Duterte says Bonifacio revolt must continue

Statue of Andres Bonifacio at the Bonifacio Shrine in Lawton, Manila. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The revolution that Andres Bonifacio started is not over and must be continued by Filipinos against drugs, criminality, corruption and terrorism, President Rodrigo Duterte said in a message issued on Wednesday.

In that message, issued to commemorate Bonifacio’s 154th birthday on Thursday, Mr. Duterte said Bonifacio’s revolution helped build the nation’s foundation and brought freedom to Filipinos from colonization.

“As the heirs of his revolution, it is our solemn obligation to bring life to his aspirations and usher in an era of civic consciousness and nationalism,” said Mr. Duterte in the message released by Malacañang.

Everyone’s role

The President said every Filipino must be involved in nation building.

“Let us fight to free ourselves from the grasp of corruption, criminality and illegal drugs; to liberate our people from the clutches of terror and violence; and to preserve our ideals, values and way of life,” the President’s message said.

Mr. Duterte also called on Filipinos not to lose sight of the vision for a better and more progressive country.

“Like Bonifacio, let us light the flames of change that will bring about real and meaningful transformation in our nation,” he said.

The President’s message came as talk continued to swirl on his repeated statements about setting up a revolutionary government if his detractors continued to plot his downfall and disrupted government functions.

The country’s first revolutionary government was set up briefly in 1986 to allow the late democracy icon Corazon Aquino to govern after the collapse of the Marcos dictatorship in a bloodless revolt.

Under Aquino’s revolutionary government, a parliament that served as a stamp pad for Marcos’ edicts had been abolished.