DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 31 January)— Former president Rodrigo Duterte said “everything will be heaven tomorrow” and “happy days are here again” if President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. drops “like a hot potato” attempts to change the 1987 Constitution through People’s Initiative.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte is accompanied by Former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez during a press conference at the Grand Men Seng Hotel in Davao City on Tuesday evening (30 January 2024). MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
Duterte, in a press conference Tuesday night at the Grand Men Seng hotel, also urged supporters of the Dutertes and the Marcoses to stop fighting on social media, claiming he and Marcos are not quarreling.
“I’d like to urge everybody, huwag kayong mag-away kasi hindi man kami naga-aaway ni Presidente Marcos (don’t fight because President Marcos and I are not quarreling). He said Marcos should stop moves to amend the Constitution to perpetuate themselves in power. If he stops it, he said, “happy days are here again.”
“Makontento ka na lang (Be content). Enjoy the remaining years of your presidency. Wag ka na lang maghanap ng gulo kay baka ma Marcos Sr. ka (Don’t look for trouble or you might end up like Marcos Sr.), Duterte said, reiterating his warning in a rally Sunday night that Marcos Jr. might suffer the fate of his father who was ousted by People Power in 1986.
The 1987 Constitution changed the term of office of the President and Vice President from four years with one reelection to six years with no reelection.
Under the present Constitution, Marcos Jr. took his oath as President on June 30, 2022 and will step down on June 30, 2028.
Marcos Sr. was elected in 1965 and reelected in 1969 for a second and last four-year term. He would have stepped down as President in 1973 but he declared martial law in September 1972 and ruled as a dictator until his ouster in February 1986.
Duterte welcomed Senator Gregorio Honasan’s call for the Marcos and Duterte camps to unify to prevent a divided society and to engage in fruitful discussions to address the issues that the country is now facing.
Duterte said it’s not a problem for him to sit down and talk but he would ask Honasan to tell Marcos to “drop it like a hot potato, and everything will be heaven tomorrow,” referring to the charter change bid.
Honasan, a military officer who joined the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) that helped topple the Marcos dictatorship in 1986 and was elected senator, served as secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology under the Duterte administration.
Duterte said there was never really a rift between him and Marcos but acknowledged there are cracks in the UniTeam of President Marcos and Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara, with Marcos loyalists now calling for her resignation.
Marcos ran for President in 2022, with Sara as running mate. The two belong to different political parties but ran under what they called a “UniTeam.”
“Baka out of delicadeza, sisibat na iyan, pero hindi yan sisibat ngayon kasi para bang iniwanan niya si Marcos mag-isa. (Maybe out of delicadeza, she will resign but she won’t now because it would appear like she is abandoning Marcos), he said of Sara. But Sara, he added, will likely discuss her plans with the President.
Last Monday, Marcos named Sara as Acting President while he is on a state visit in Vietnam.
In Vietnam on Tuesday, President Marcos said the Uniteam is still intact and that his relationship with the Vice President “remains the same” despite attacks against him by her family members.
“I believe so, because if you remember ‘UniTeam’ is not just one party or two parties or three parties. It’s the unification of all political, hopefully all political forces in the Philippines to come together for the good of the country,” President Marcos said in a report released by the Presidential Communications Office. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
