Duterte on Poe: She’s still in the feudal state

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. KIMBERLY DE LA CRUZ/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

STA. CRUZ, Davao del Sur—Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said Sen. Grace Poe should “study more” as her mind is apparently “still in a feudal state.”

During her visit in Butuan City on Friday, Poe said she could not support a shift from the present presidential form of government to federalism, as advocated by Duterte, because it would perpetuate political dynasties.

“For me, we have a problem on political dynasty and under federalism, there is autonomy and the proposal is by region. What if a particular region is dominated by only one family?” she asked.

But Duterte said the reason they were “fighting for autonomous government is because we want to distribute power.”

“It has nothing to do with political dynasties, he said.

Speaking before an estimated crowd of 3,000 who were applauding and prodding him to run, Duterte said ever since the history of the country, “Manila has always been deciding for us.”

Federalism is a system in which power is shared between the national government and constituent political units, provinces or states.

In a feudal structure, the priority is more on individual power and strictly defined hierarchies and vested interests. The entities of a feudal system are dependent on the feudal lord or king. People held their land in return for promising loyalty, known as doing homage, and providing services such as working or fighting for their lord or king. This system was common in Europe during the Middle Ages. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao