President Rodrigo Duterte has told the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to shoot him if he becomes a dictator or stays in power beyond his term expiration in 2022.
The president made the remark in his speech during an army base visit on Monday, January 22, in Compostela Valley province.
“Kapag ako sumobra sa aking termino, isang araw lang (If I extend my term of office, even for a day), I am now asking the [AFP] and the PNP not to allow me or anybody else to mess up with the Constitution,” Duterte said.
The president further stressed that it is both the military and the police’s “solemn duty” to “protect the Constitution and the people.”
“Kaya ako ‘pag sumobra, gusto kong mag-diktador, barilin ninyo ako. Hindi ako nagbobola (If I overstay and wanted to become a dictator, shoot me, I am not joking),” he added.
Duterte had repeatedly said in the past that he has no intention of going beyond his six-year term, which is set to end on June 30, 2022.
Earlier this month, Duterte’s allies in Congress raised the possibility of extending the president’s term as part of the proposed shift to a federal form of government.
But even if extending the president’s term would be allowed in the new Constitution, Malacañang clarified that Duterte is already averse to the idea. Rather than extending his term, Malacañang claimed that Duterte prefers to step down ahead of the expiration of his tenure.
Sison ‘stuck in history’
In the same speech, Duterte also scoffed at Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chair Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, who recently urged the youth to hold a mass protest against the supposed looming dictatorship under the present administration.
“Sison said I should see a doctor and have my head examined. Hey, Sison, if you were bright, you should have become president already,” Duterte said.
The CPP founder on Sunday, January 21, called for the youth to imitate the riots of the “First Quarter Storm” (FQS) of 1970 against the Duterte administration, referring to the series of heavy demonstrations that led to the late President Ferdinand Marcos’ declaration of martial law in 1972.
In an interview with Philippine Daily Inquirer on Sunday, January 21, Sison said the youth “should launch huge mass marches and rallies in the National Capital Region and in the provinces, like during the First Quarter Storm (FQS) of 1970.”
“With the signal act of the student youth, the rest of the people — workers, the peasants, women, youth of other sectors, cultural workers, professionals and religious — will participate in the mass-protest movement,” he added.
But Malacañang downplayed Sison’s call, saying the CPP founder was “stuck” in the past.
“Again, we don’t attach too much importance to Joma Sison. I hope he has enough grandchildren to heed this call,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a briefing.
Roque continued, “The problem with Joma Sison is he is stuck in history. He never moved beyond the First Quarter Storm.”
Sison has been in self-exile in the Netherlands since 1987.
In December last year, Duterte also classified the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), as “terrorists” following the termination of peace negotiations between the government and the communist group.
