Palace: Amid call for revolutionary gov't, admin focused on COVID crisis

Amid the call for a revolutionary government, Malacañang on Sunday said the Duterte administration will remain focused at addressing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in the country.

In a statement, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the call to establish a revolutionary government "came from a private group and the organizers are free to publicly express their opinion."

"The focus, however, of the administration is [on] addressing COVID-19 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/going back to work amid the pandemic," he added.

Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte - National Executive Coordinating Committee, a group of the President's supporters, reportedly called for a meeting as they pushed for a revolutionary government.

Philippine National Police chief Police General Archie Gamboa confirmed getting an invitation to attend the said meeting.

However, Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, dean of the San Beda Graduate School of Law, said the call for a revolutionary government is only aimed at pushing for the long-debated issue of Charter change.

"I think they want Charter change principally for term extension, lifting term limits, or postponing the elections. I think that's the main purpose," said Fr. Ranhilio Aquino in a Dobol B sa News TV interview on Sunday.

"What they want talaga is do away with all the barriers na humahadlang sa mga plans nila, kaya revolutionary government ang pinag-uusapan nila," he added.

In a separate statement, chief presidential legal adviser Salvador Panelo said that while the call for a revolutionary government must be overwhelming, "there is no present perceptible people’s clamor for such."

He added that such a call must come from the people itself, and not from a single organization or individual.

"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 said.

"Presently [the President] is effecting the necessary changes in our country and succeeding despite the opposite view of a boisterous minority," he added.

During the presidential campaign in 2016, then-Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he is planning to form a revolutionary government if elected President.

In 2017, Duterte threatened to declare a revolutionary government in case “destabilization” moves by his critics, particularly the Left, continue and start slipping into chaos.

In April 2019, the President threatened to declare a revolutionary war, during which he would have his critics arrested, if he was "pushed to the wall."

Vice President Leni Robredo however said Duterte will be violating the Constitution and abandon his post as Chief Executive in the event that he will declare a revolutionary government. —LBG, GMA News