Palace distances self from call for 'revolutionary government'
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Sunday distanced itself from the call to declare a revolutionary government to amend the constitution, saying the administration's priority is to respond to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
One of the groups that urged President Duterte to seek the presidency in 2016 has appealed to Filipinos to support the establishment of a revolutionary government to hasten the process of charter change.
The Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte-National Executive Coordinating Committee said the modes of amending the constitution like constitutional convention or constituent assembly are no longer viable due to lack of time.
About 300 members of the group gathered in Clark, Pampanga on Saturday to ask Duterte to lead the revolutionary government, citing the need to heal "all the ills of our society."
"The call to establish a revolutionary government came from a private group and the organizers are free to publicly express their opinion," presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement.
"The focus, however, of the administration is addressing COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) and mitigating its socioeconomic impact. The most pressing and most urgent concern, which requires the Executive's full attention, is the gradual opening of the economy while safeguarding the people who are working (or) going back to work amid the pandemic," he added.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said it may be too late to amend the constitution through a revolutionary government. But he claimed that in terms of academic discussion, the proposal is "a titillating idea for discourse."
"If it is a workable concept, it may be late in the day. Moreover, the call of a revolutionary government must come from the people and not from a single organization or an individual. It must be an overwhelming call, and there is no present perceptible people’s clamor for such," Panelo said in a statement.
"While the president may have at one time in the campaign or in another in one of his speeches, expressed a need for it, he was quick to qualify it as only if all others means constitutionally allowed to effect a radical change in the social, political and economic structure fail," he added.
Panelo claimed Duterte is already "effecting the necessary changes in our country and succeeding despite the opposite view of a boisterous minority."
Duterte had dangled the idea of declaring a revolutionary government to address the country's problems. In 2017, the president threatened to establish a revolutionary government and to declare all state posts vacant if the Philippines plunges into "chaos" because of alleged attempts to destabilize the government.
He later on clarified that he would make such a declaration if “things go out of control” and if the administration is at risk of being overthrown violently.
Last year, Duterte raised the possibility of declaring a "revolutionary war" after opposition senator Franklin Drilon appealed to the administration to be careful in reviewing government contracts. Malacañang had claimed that the remark was an "exasperated expression" against "a series of acts committed against the people."
The shift to a federal type of government is one of the campaign promises of Duterte, who claimed it would spur development in the countryside.
In June last year, Duterte admitted that his proposed shift to federalism may not gain support. He, however, has expressed hope that local officials would at least back amendments to the constitution that would address the conflict in Mindanao.
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