Around 30 Duterte supporters join Marcos 'counter-rally' at Luneta

Around 30 supporters describing themselves as supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte showed up at Rizal Park on Friday in a "counter-rally" versus the protest against the burial of late former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

The group was led by Ronald Cordema, who introduced himself as the chairman of the Duterte Youth Group, accompanied by six other people. They held up a large banner reading "We support President Duterte and the Supreme Court" at Rizal Park.

"The Duterte Youth is here to voice out our support for President Duterte and for the Supreme Court. He is the highest leader of the land, this is the highest court of the land, they deserve our respect, they deserve to be followed," he said.

He claimed that the group counts around 600 members, many of which are ROTC members from different schools. Cordema said he was an ROTC officer in college at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Addressing his fellow UP students, Cordema said that young people who joined Friday's rally should completely boycott Marcos' achievements if they were serious in their opposition.

"Be strong in your anti-Marcos conviction. Wag kayong dumaan sa NLEX, SLEX, 'wag kayong magpagamot sa mga magagandang ospital na ginawa niya," he said.

They dispersed at around 7:45 pm.

Duterte supporters in Luneta, as of 7pm: pic.twitter.com/snJuU6j8X2

— Jessica Bartolome (@jacbartolome) November 25, 2016

Call to resign

The group had choice words for members of the Duterte Cabinet opposed to his decision to allow the burial of late former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Cordema said that the Cabinet members must first give up their posts before vocalizing her disagreement with Duterte's decision to allow late strongman Ferdinand Marcos' burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

"Tinitignan nga namin, bakit may mga leftist Cabinet members na panay ang banat kay Pangulong Duterte tungkol sa desisyon na to? Kung babanatan niyo ang presidente, magresign na muna kayo," Cardema said.

"Kasama na rin si Vice President Robredo. King binabanatan mo ang president, magresign ka muna sa post mo," he added.

Vice President Leni Robredo, Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, and Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano have all opposed the Marcos burial.

Cardema also directed his anger at former President Fidel Ramos, who expressed his disappointment at Marcos' burial at the LNMB. He said that Ramos only joined the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986 when the "ship was sinking."

"Ang hindi ko maintindihan kay President Fidel Ramos...nagbetray ka lang dun sa pangulo mo, tapos ngayon puro criticisms ka kay Pangulo Duterte...kung pwede manahimik na lang kayo," he said. 

Debates sparked

Meanwhile, a couple of debates sparked when anti-Marcos protesters faced off against the Duterte supporters.

While the two protests were deliberately separated by the police, some anti-Marcos protesters were compelled to cross the street to engage Marcos supporters in discourse.

Two young men got into a debate over whether the declaration of Martial Law was justified.

Ochi Tarzo, who came from the anti-Marcos rally, said that he didn't intend to start a debate. He said he simply wanted to impart words that Marcos supporters can mull over.

Mace, a supporter of both Marcos and Duterte, said that he never claimed that Marcos was a hero. He said that he was simply upholding the rule of law.

The debate was relatively pleasant, both men shaking hands after the debate.

Meanwhile, a law student who opposed the Marcos burial engaged three elderly men in a similar debate.

However, the student, Kelby, cut the debate short because he felt they weren't addressing the issue.

One of the elder men said that he did not care for the historical revisionism that came as a consequence of the burial. —JST, GMA News