Rody urged: Learn from lessons of Marcos dictatorship

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) yesterday urged President Duterte to remember the violations committed during the Marcos regime following his admission of being a dictator.

“There is a need to learn from the lessons of an overthrown dictatorship, which resulted in rampant human rights violations under the Marcos regime,” CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said.

“As a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, it should strive to protect the rights and liberties enshrined in our Constitution instead of painting them as obstacles to national development,” she added.

De Guia issued the statement in response to Duterte’s remark where he admitted being a dictator.

The President made the remark while meeting former rebels in Malacañang.

Duterte said he has to be a dictator to achieve something for the country.

Duterte, however, maintained that he is not a puppet of the US government as claimed by his critics, saying he has never talked to anyone from the US military.

Lawmakers expressed alarm over Duterte’s remark.

Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said Duterte’s supposed admission that he was a dictator spells trouble for the nation.

Aquino took Duterte’s remarks as an “affirmation” the signs of a dictatorship in the country are evident.

“The Filipino people do not need a dictator,” Aquino said in Filipino.

“A dictatorship resulted in violence, deaths, loss of jobs and freedom, corruption, and a huge debt,” Aquino said, apparently referring to the regime of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

Opposition Rep. Tom Villarin of Akbayan said Duterte’s admission of being a dictator “could bring down the country.”

“Dictators … bring pain and untold sufferings to people and the children who will have a traumatized future. And this is no joke nor a trivial matter that can be spinned by Malacañang,” he said.

Villarin said Duterte’s admission confirms what he has been doing since assuming office in mid-2016.

“From extrajudicial killings in his drug war, martial law declaration, contempt for the rule of law, harassing constitutional officers, quashing legitimate dissent, rude and violent language, being a misogynist, among others – these are hallmarks of a dictator,” he said.

Rep. Antonio Tinio of Alliance of Concerned Teachers said, “There you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth. President Duterte is a self-confessed dictator.”

“This accounts for his disrespect for human rights and due process, antipathy towards a free press, contempt for institutional checks and balances, and dislike for competetive bidding for public infrastructure projects,” he said.

Tinio ridiculed Duterte’s claim that “nothing will happen to this country” without his dictatorial style of leadership.

Tinio noted that the administration’s bloody anti-drug war has already prompted a preliminary investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“Even as the administration is hounded by numerous scandals, including the smuggling of at least P6.4 billion in shabu, the questionable P15.5-billion Navy frigates deal and the President’s alleged unexplained wealth,” he said.

Administration allies in the Senate, however, said Duterte’s statement should be taken in context as he is known for making sarcastic remarks.

“He’s of course exaggerating since we all know there is no dictatorship prevailing in the country,” Sen. Panfilo Lacson said.

But Lacson warned such remarks would not help Duterte with the prosecution panel of the ICC, which is inquiring into his complicity in the thousands of drug-related extrajudicial killings in the country.