DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 29 January) – Calling President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., “bangag” (high on drugs) with a “hungry for power” wife, former President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday night warned Marcos would suffer the fate of his father who was ousted by People Power in February 1986, if he does not stop his wife Liza and Speaker Martin Romualdez whom he alleges to be behind the buying of signatures for a “People’s Initiative” to amend the 1987 Constitution.
The former President did not call on Marcos to resign, as his mayor-son Sebastian, did during the Hakbang ng Maisug Leaders’ Forum Sunday afternoon at the Grand Men Seng Hotel, but addressing the President during the “candlelight prayer rally” at the Rizal Park, Duterte said: “Kaibigan kita, pag pinilit mo ito, lalabas ka ng Malacanang kagaya nung panahon na pinalayas kayo” (You are my friend but if you push for this, you will leave Malacañang the same way your father did when he was ousted).
Former President Rodrigo Duterte warns President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. he might suffer the fate of his father, who was ousted by People Power in 1986, if he does not stop the moves to amend the 1987 Constitution through buying of signatures for an alleged People’s Initiative. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
He appealed to Marcos, who attended the “Bagong Pilipinas” rally at the Luneta Park in Manila earlier in the evening, to stop these moves because this will spell trouble. “Magkagulo.”
He reminded Marcos he has only one term as President (Marcos ends his term on June 30, 2028) and warned that if the moves to amend the Constitution are not stopped, this rally in Davao City “will multiply all over the Philippines and there will be trouble.”
If the rallies won’t stop the alleged “People’s Initiative,” Duterte called on the military to step in because “mga military maawa kayo sa bayan. Pag hindi namin kaya, gawin na ninyo. Kawawa ang Pilipino” (military, please have pity on our country. If we can’t stop them, you stop them. Have pity on the Filipino).
“You want to perpetuate yourself in power at the expense ng buhay ng bayan. Mabuti sana kung bright kayo (Good if you’re bright). Eh kung drug addict ka lang naman at may asawa kang (But you’re a drug addict and your wife is) hungry for power” and Speaker Romualdez from Leyte wants to be Prime Minister and make Marcos a ceremonial President,” he said, adding this is their plan.
President Marcos’ eldest sister, Senator Imee, was in the crowd beside Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara.
A day before the rally, Senator Marcos said Speaker Romualdez, her first cousin, was behind the distribution of 20 million pesos per congressional district for the ongoing signature campaign for alleged People’s Initiative to change the Constitution and that her sources in Congress informed her of the “attenuated timeline” that the signature drive would be finished by July 9.
The crowd cheered as Duterte, who spoke for 45 minutes, said: “Mr. President, baka susunod ka sa dinaanan ng tatay mo. Diyan ako takot. Ayaw kong mangyari sa iyo yan. Pabor lang, ako naman ang nagmamakawaawa kasi (you might follow the path your father. That scares me. I do not want that to happen to you because) it will divide the nation and madugo itong panahon na ito” (it will be bloody).
He said the environment in the Philippines “seems to be positive, okay” and
there is nothing wrong with the Constitution right now but “suddenly, nandito yung People’s Initiative” that from the beginning was suspicious because People’s Initiative must come from the people not from politicians in exchange for money.
Dabawenyos raise their lit candles during the “candlelight prayer rally” on Sunday, January 28, 2024 against moves to amend the 1987 Constitution. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from June 30, 2016 to June 30, 2022, said that if this continues, “sabihin ko sa military, sirahan ninyo ang Congress” (I will tell the military to shut down Congress), because they are just wasting taxpayers’ money on this alleged People’s Initiative.
Duterte, who pushed for higher salaries for the military and police during his Presidency, also called on these two security forces to “protect the Constitution.” If the alleged People’s Initiative cannot be stopped, and if they find something wrong in these attempts to amend the Constitution, “you correct it, nasa inyong kamay na yan” (it’s in your hands), he said.
“Kaya gusto ko, pag nagka-letse letse na, pumasok ang military, palitan ninyo lahat, arestuhin ninyo kasi nagsasayang ng pera at yung ginagastos nila is a fraud, swindling ang ginawa nila. (That’s why I want, if the situation is untenable, for the military to enter, change everyone, arrest those who are wasting money because what they are doing is fraud, swindling).
“You must account for the wasted money,” Duterte said, adding money for signature is “bribery,” not People’s Initiative.
He urged those behind the initiative to pray. “Magdasal lang kayo, if by the grace of God, babalik ako,” the crowd chanted upon hearing “babalik ako” (I shall return) but Duterte immediately added, “milagro man lang yan, hindi man yan totoo” (that will be a miracle, that is not true).
Duterte is turning 79 in March and has repeatedly said he has retired from politics and won’t run for any elective post in 2025. If he returns, “arestuhin ko kayong lahat (I will arrest all of you) for the swindling of the Filipino people, you committed fraud.”
He said the present administration wants to shift to a Parliamentary system to perpetuate itself in power. But he noted that that “ambition” is mostly coming from Marcos’ wife, Liza and Romualdez because “Bongbong bangag yan” (Bongbong Marcos is high on drugs).
He said as mayor, he was shown evidence by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency that Marcos was on the watchlist. The Presidential Communications Office on Monday posted a statement of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that Marcos “is not and was never in its watchlist.”
“Si Bongbong Marcos bangag noon, ngayon Presidente na, bangag ang ating Presidente” (Bongbong Marcos was high on drugs then, now we have a President who is high on drugs), Duterte said.
“May drug addict tayo na Presidente put–nang yan” (We have a drug addict President), he said, adding he is currently facing charges before the International Criminal Court allegedly for killing drug pushers and drug addicts but Marcos is lucky he is no longer in power because “baka kasali ka pa” (you could have been one of them).
During the Leader’s Forum, Mayor Sebastian Duterte called on the President to resign for not protecting the gains that his father’s administration had won such as the war on drugs and the decimation of the New People’s Army. Addressing the president, Sebastian said: “You are lazy and you lack compassion”
Davao City Mayor Sebastian ‘Baste’ Duterte speaks during the Hakbang ng Maisug Leaders Forum at the Grand Men Seng Hotel in Davao City on Sunday (28 January 2024). MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
At the rally, Sebastian did not repeat his call for Marcos to resign but addressing again the President, said: “From now on, before you go to bed, think of the Romanovs, think of Benito Mussolini and his wife, think of what happened to you in 1986, maybe you will reconsider the direction that you are taking,” Duterte said during his 12-minute speech at the prayer rally.
The Duterte politicians were all present: the patriarch, his children — Vice President Sara, 1st district Representative Paolo and Sebastian, and grandson Omar.
National personalities present during the Leaders’ Forum were Marcos’ first Executive Secretary, Vic Rodriguez, Duterte’s Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque and former Biliran Rep. Glenn Chong.
Roque and Chong spoke at the rally. Senator Bong Go, Duterte’s long-time assistant, and Senator Marcos were also present at the rally. The person who introduced former President Duterte was TV host Willie Revillame, who said Duterte and Senator Go asked him to run for the Senate before, that he was not ready then but he is now ready. “Handa na ako.”
Revillame asked the crowd to light their candles or turn on the flashlights of their phones before calling on the former President to speak. “Ipakita sa buong mundo na ito po ang magbibigay liwanag sa dilim ngayon” (Let us show the world that this will give light to the darkness now), he said.
The former President said that every sitting President, “almost all,” once they sit down in Malacanang, think of amending the Constitution to perpetuate themselves in power.
Duterte had campaigned in 2015 for Charter Change by shifting from the Presidential, unitary form of government to a Parliamentary system once elected, but he failed. In a press conference here on January 6, he said that while the reason behind his proposed change to Parliamentary system was “noble,” he failed because “it was fraught with suspicion.”
Critics then said Duterte was doing it to perpetuate himself in power as President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. attempted to do so in the 1971 Constitutional Convention’s proposed shift to parliamentary system. Marcos Sr. was ending his second four-year term in 1973. An expose on delegates being paid for certain provisions marred the convention. In September 1972, Marcos Sr. declared martial law and ruled as a dictator until he was ousted in February 1986. (Carolyn O. Arguillas /MindaNews)