Revolutionary government

THE warm support by followers of the present administration calling for a Revolutionary Government (RG) has been doused with cold water by Malacañang in its explanatory note on President Rodrigo Duterte’s discussion on the matter. If this presidency can be found to bear any fault, this is limited to his sense of transparency, sharing, and speaking his mind out. And this has great advantages for a public often unable to pierce the veil of official discourse behind thick doors, and the people likely are left to read the fine print of their leaders’ every inclination, body language, etc., on serious state affairs.

In the case of RG, it is out in the open. In short, there is no conspiracy or motive in the President’s mind to degrade into a dictatorship. The RG statement should not be akin to “O Plan Sagittarius” of the early 70s where a clandestine operation was hatched in Malacañang to arrest suspected Communist and political opponents, shutting down media and press offices, etc., to prevent the declaration of martial law.

As an aside, next to President Emilio Aguinaldo, it was a Cory Aquino who in Philippine history who declared an RG, “innocent” of the ramifications and threats to a government of “paramount force.”

Opponents of this presidency, however, simply did not allow the matter of RG to be put to rest. Reactions audibly focused on the specter of declaring an RG, its legal and constitutional implications, while missing purposively on the context and defined conditionalities clearly stated by the Chief Executive for such eventuality.

Reports of naughty minds and colored alliances working to destabilize this government must be taken seriously. Wisdom from information and intel reports only the President is privy to prompts him to respond by stating in no unmistakable terms to deluded political and armed opponents the gravity of response to be expected if they pursue such conspiracy to the point of widespread trouble, violence, to decapite and overthrow a legally constituted and elected presidency.

By now, we must be familiar with the language of this presidency. The startling pronouncements is not as important as the predicate of contextualizing this President’s statements. The objective, however, is obvious for a minority chorus of anti-Duterte. They will always change the narrative, in order to simply attack this President.