Mass actions by President Rodrigo Duterte’s supporters across the country urging him to declare a revolutionary government was a complete failure, critics of President Duterte said Friday as they warned of increased attacks by the administration against human rights defenders, critics, and activists.
“The much-hyped nationwide ‘RevGov’ rallies yesterday turned out into a grand flop. Clearly, the vast majority of Filipinos do not support President Duterte’s and his supporters’ illusions of dictatorship and one-man rule,” the Movement Against Tyranny said Friday in response to pro-government rallies with dismal crowds showing up in streets despite Thursday’s holiday.
The group also accused “the Presidential Communications Operations Office [PCOO] and its troll army, along with the Presidential Office for Participatory Governance [OPG],” of being “busy creating an artificial clamor for a revolutionary government.”
“We call on our people to be vigilant and to act now to prevent Duterte’s dictatorship from happening,” the group added.
The group warned against “ominous signs” of a looming dictatorship, including “continuous attacks on the judiciary and system of checks and balances,” “increasing harassment and physical attacks on human rights defenders,” “increasing vilification and trumped up charges against known activists and government critics,” and plans to extend martial law, push for federalism and revive Oplan Tokhang, among others.
The MAT also slammed what it called as ”ridiculous” efforts to impeach Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno, and threats of impeachment against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, the disregard of the Commission on Human Rights, and continued detention and vilification of opposition senator Leila de Lima.
The group also scored the latest incident involving the Nov. 29 killing of Karapatan Negros Oriental coordinator Elisa Badayos and farmer Eleuterio Moises during a human rights fact-finding mission in Bayawan, Negros Oriental and the putting up of “Wanted” posters against leaders of people’s organizations in Davao City yesterday and filing of trumped up cases against nine peasant leaders in Batangas province two weeks ago.
“President Duterte continues to itch for his dictatorship, whether through a “RevGov”, martial law or charter change,” the group said.
“In order to do this, he has mobilized the PNP, AFP, intelligence agencies, the Department of Justice to go after human rights defenders, activists and critics.”
Meanwhile, the Liberal Party said that if the Duterte government is serious about accountability, it should also pursue those behind the push for a revolutionary government and the entry of P6.4-billion worth of shabu into the country.
The Liberal party said the Duterte government should not only file cases against its critics, but its allies as well.
“The government should be fair when it comes to the issue of accountability,” said Partido Liberal president Sen. Francis Pangilinan. He added that the government has failed to pursue cases against allies involved in massive corruption issues.
“What happened to the case of former Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon and other officials of the Bureau of Customs over the P6.4 billion worth of shabu smuggled into the country. Did they hold anybody liable?” Pangilinan asked.
Sen. Bam Aquino, meanwhile, said the Department of Justice (DOJ) allowed two former associate commissioners of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) who allegedly received P50-million bribe from Chinese tycoon Jack Lam to escape plunder charges by downgrading the case to graft and direct bribery.
“Ayaw nating isipin na dahil appointee ni Pangulong Duterte ang dalawang ito kaya nakalusot sa kaso ngunit hindi maiwasan dahil napapadalas na ang ganitong mga isyu,” added Aquino.
If the government is really serious in making people accountable for their actions, Minority Leader Sen. Franklin Drilon said it must pursue those pushing for a revolutionary government — which is an illegal act.
“They know it’s prohibited under our Constitution but they tolerated it because those involved were allies,” said Drilon.
