NEW YORK — President Duterte has threatened to form a revolutionary government if the opposition, whether in the halls of Congress, in NGOs, or in the hills, foment disorder and chaos rules the streets.

Does that sound familiar?

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The demagogue has taken a page from the playbook of the man he admires fervently, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose burial he allowed to take place at the National Heroes Cemetery a little more than a year ago. An act akin to burying a gangster such as Al Capone at Arlington.

Duterte has also referenced Cory Aquino’s formation of a revolutionary government in the heady days of the 1986 People Power uprising, that saw the conjugal dictatorship, that had sucked the country dry for twenty-one years, spirited away by the United States to balmy Honolulu, where the strongman eventually passed away.

Not only is his sense of governance skewed, so is his sense of history. Cory’s government was revolutionary since a sitting president had been deposed, and the whole house of cards on which the Marcos regime by then was based, toppled over. Cory could have ruled by decree until such time as a full restoration of democracy was achieved.

Unfortunately, Cory’s rule was anything but revolutionary. I remember an apt headline describing her administration: She reigns but does not rule. Instead, the old order was restored, now widened to include newly minted thieves and robber barons emerging from under the rock of the New Society.

Duterte cannot form a revolutionary government unless he deposes himself, a patently absurd proposition (about which nevertheless one can fantasize).

Why then does he choose a nonsensical path when he could declare martial law for the entire country? Simple: he feels that martial law has too many restrictions, as legally construed by the 1987 Constitution.

The man keeps making noises about authoritarian rule for the simple reason that he just wants to be a dictator, and cannot understand why anyone or any institution would object to this superman from Davao rushing to rescue the nation from perdition. Any criticism of his policies is automatically viewed as destabilizing. Hence, the threat of impeachment is wielded to try and silence the judiciary and the Office of the Ombudsman.

It remains to be seen how this legal bullying will turn out. The majority of Congress by the looks of it is made up of mindless hacks willing to do the Bully in Chief’s bidding. They must know, even the most dim-witted of them, that the biggest threat to the stability of Philippine democracy, usually fragile, is Duterte himself, in much the same way that the Orange Man in the White House is a menace not just to his compatriots but also to the global order.

If President Duterte truly aspires to create a revolutionary government, then all he and his cohort need do is to follow the rule of law, whether this be in making sure suspected drug pushers and addicts are afforded due process, as is their right; in respecting the freedom of speech (the exercise of which seems to annoy him no end), especially when it comes to the press; in recognizing that there are three independent branches of government, and not just one, and even that the executive branch is more than just the president; and in rooting out major sources of corruption in a consistent manner, and not simply rely on intermittent dismissals of errant public servants.

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To utilize what there is, to follow the laws on the books, to have a foreign policy that is truly independent, to appreciate the value of a viable opposition, and, perhaps most importantly, to not equate grandstanding with being an effective ruler.

Now all that would be truly revolutionary!

Copyright L.H.Francia 2017