Anti-tyranny group calls “RevGov” rallies a flop as Duterte backs away from rev gov idea

“The much hyped nationwide “RevGov” rallies yesterday turned out into a grand flop. Clearly, the vast majority of Filipinos do not support Pres. Duterte’s and his supporters’ illusions of dictatorship and one-man rule,” said the Movement Against Tyranny in a press statement today.

The statement referred to rallies of President Rodrigo Duterte’s supporters calling for a revolutionary government. Rallies were held in Manila, Cebu and Davao and coincided with the annual rallies of progressives during the birth anniversary of 1896 Philippine revolution hero Andres Bonifacio in at least the three cities.

The pro-revolutionary government rally in Manila was held in Mendiola. Participants of the RevGov rally said it reached 50,000 at its peak.

Progressives, meanwhile, who usually hold their rally in Mendiola held it at the corner of Recto corner S.H. Loyola Street, a block away from the RevGov rally. Police blocked the road at S.H. Loyola that prevented vehicles and the Kilusang Mayo Uno-led rally from passing through. The RevGov rally was fitted with a concert stage, t-shirts for participants and food provisions for the whole day, and many activists asked where the funds of the RevGov rally came.

Reports were also received on the rally being organized by the Department of Interior Local Government, the executive agency under the president supposedly asking barangay officials to sign up for the Duterte supporters’ organizations and to attend the rally.

MAT also accused the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and its troll army, along with the Presidential Office for Participatory Governance (OPG) to be “busy creating an artificial clamor for a revolutionary government.”

Even as Duterte dropped the idea of a revolutionary government two days ago, MAT warned of increased attacks against human rights defenders, critics and activists, in the wake of killings of activists and intensified militarization and aerial bombings in the whole country.

They said “the ominous signs of a looming dictatorship are certainly clear to see”, citing the following:

• The continuous attacks on the judiciary and system of checks and balances as seen in the ridiculous impeachment effort against Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno, the threat 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 increasing harassment and physical attacks on human rights defenders, the latest incident of which involves 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;
• The increasing vilification and trumped up charges against known activists and government critics like 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;
• The continued push for federalism through charter change that contains provisions that would give Pres. Duterte executive and legislative powers as well as greater control over the judiciary and constitutional commissions;
• Plans to extend martial law in Mindanao on the pretext of continued threats from ISIS elements.
• Plans to revive “Oplan Tokhang” by reinstating the PNP at the forefront of drug operations.

Duterte backs away from revolutionary government idea anew

In a Facebook video posted by PCOO Assistant Scretary Mocha Uson posted early Wednesday morning, Duterte said he will not form a revolutionary government, this only weeks after he revived the idea that he said was due to destabilization plots by his critics, especially the Left.

“Well, I hope there will never be a time that I will be compelled to call for it. Basta ako abogado [I am a lawyer] and we follow the Constitution—only when the Republic of the Philippines is dying, then siguro [maybe],” Duterte said.

“Other than that, wala akong nakitang rason. Bakit ako mag-revolutionary government? [I don’t see any reason. Why should I form a revolutionary government?]” he added.

Duterte he said he needed to compromise with those who do not support him or his idea of a revolutionary government.

“Iyong bumoto sa akin, 16 million all in all… gusto, pero marami rin ang ayaw. So compromise tayo. Iyong mga pari, mga obispo, ayaw nila, good. Okay, dito tayo. Gumawa tayo ng bagong Constitution. Huwag kayong matakot na mag—hindi ako mag-diktador [Those who voted for me, 16 million all in all, they want it, but many others do not want it. So we compromise. The priests, bishops, they don’t want it, it’s all good. This is what we’ll do. We’ll make a new Constitution. Don’t be worried—I will not become a dictator],” he said.

While Duterte backed away from pushing for a revolutionary government now, saying he did not want to do it even as supporters are asking him, the idea came from him to begin with.

As early as August 2015, Duterte talked of putting up a revolutionary government to fast-track federalism, otherwise he is not the person for the presidency. He said federalism would break the monopoly of “Imperial Manila”, address the Bangsamoro problem, stop corruption and criminality and fix the government. He said this would require the resignation of all military and police to be replaced by ‘the best and the brightest’ and to close Congress, one of the three coequal branches of government.

On April 27, 2016, then-Davao City Mayor Duterte, a subtle critic of the Benigno Aquino III administration but only before presidential elections campaign started, made the vow for a revolutionary government once more after the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels released to him Pfc. Edgardo Hilaga Junior of the Philippine Army in Tulunan, Cotabato on April 26.

“Ako magtindog ug bag-o nga gobyerno. Haros jud ni. Ilisdan nako ning gobyerno. Magrebolusyon ko kung naa nako didto kay dili ni para sa tao. Dili ni matabang kaning Konstitusyon nato. Wala gyud [I will form a new government. The current is bankrupt. I will replace this government. I will revolutionize it if I am elected, because it no longer serves the people. Our Constitution cannot solve it. It really can’t],” he said, that time as in many other occasions drawing laughter from the crowd.

The idea of his revolutionary government in that instance was to include the NPA or what they are fighting for, which the incumbent Liberal Party (LP) then was quick to use against Duterte’s campaign. The LP standard bearer Mar Roxas also quickly reacted to say that electing Duterte would enable his alleged plan to give the NPA a bigger voice in Philippine mainstream politics.

On October 13, Duterte said in a recorded interview aired on state-run television, “If I will declare a revolutionary government, arestado kayong lahat. Hindi ako nananakot…If I think you are about to take over the government, you destabilize the government, bantay kayo [be on guard].”

The threat to set up a revolutionary government that time, he said, was due to alleged destabilization efforts by his enemies, including communist rebels, the elite, and even the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The rantings followed Duterte’s accusation of the Left and the Yellows working together to destabilize him, and also happened after the September 21 anti-tyranny rally led by MAT that was said to be the biggest anti-Duterte rally in the strongman’s 14-month rule.

On November 20, speaking to reporters in Davao City, Mr. Duterte said he would declare a revolutionary government if opposition to his policies went out of control and if chaos would reach the streets.

“[I]f things go out of control and [the] government is weakened—that is my predicate,” Duterte said.

 “If my country is weakened and I see revolutionaries bringing firearms on the streets, well, maybe you shouldn’t have second thoughts, I will declare a revolutionary government,” he said.

The following day, November 21, in a tribute for fallen soldiers, Duterte rejected the idea of revolutionary government.

“Ang sabi nilang revolutionary government, coup d’état, ’wag ninyong intindihin ‘yan, malayo ‘yan [They said there would be revolutionary government, coup d’état, do not mind them. That’s all far-fetched],” Duterte said.

MAT said Duterte’s revolutionary government idea may actually be a dictatorship under a new label or packaging.

“Pres. Duterte continues to itch for his dictatorship, whether through a “RevGov”, martial law or charter change. In order to do this, he has mobilized the PNP [Philippie National Police], AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines], intelligence agencies, the Department of Justice to go after human rights defenders, activists and critics,” said MAT in its statement.

MAT also invited the public to act now to prevent Duterte’s dictatorship from happening and join the rally on International Human Rights Day, December 10, at the Luneta Park at 4 p.m.

On revolutionary government

Former President Corazon Aquino set up a revolutionary government following the ouster of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

By setting up the revolutionary government, Aquino was able to establish a temporary charter that briefly replaced the 1973 Constitution prior to the ratification of the 1987 Constitution. She was also able to declare government positions vacant under the set-up and appointed her chosen people to government positions in all levels.

Meanwhile, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) that represent the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) in the peace talks with the Philippine government said there is a true type of revolutionary government existing in the countryside. Calling it the ‘people’s democratic government’ (PDG), the NDFP, CPP and NPA formed organs of political power in the barangay (village) level in 71 provinces in the country, that made it the other belligerent force in the two-party peace talks brokered by a neutral third party government, the Royal Norwegian Government.

In a paper on revolutionary taxation, NDFP Chief Political Consultant and CPP Founding Chairperson Jose Maria Sison explained the depth and breadth of the PDG:

“The PDG has a constitution founded on the sovereign will of the Filipino people and on the basic alliance of the working class and peasantry. It aims to complete the people’s struggle for national liberation and democracy under the class leadership of the working class and its revolutionary party. From its modest beginnings, the PDG has grown and spread mainly in the form of local organs of political power to more than 110 guerrilla fronts covering large parts of 17 regions and 71 provinces of the Philippines, as a result of revolutionary armed struggle and united front work against the US-directed reactionary government of big compradors and landlords. The rural-based revolutionary government and the urban-based reactionary government are co-belligerents in a civil war which has been going on since the first quarter of 1969.”