President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday that his warning that he would set up a revolutionary government if destabilization efforts continue was not intended to keep himself in power.

On the contrary, he would leave the job if he could, he said during the Federalism Summit and PDP-Laban Oath Taking held at the Capitol Convention Center in Pili, Camarines Sur.

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“Nobody is interested here in this government, me especially, to go beyond my term,” he said. “I do not intend to perpetuate myself. I will not shame my family for any ambition in this world.”

He scoffed at allegations that he had wanted to set up a revolutionary government because he wanted to stay longer in office.

“Son of a – if only I could retreat. But that would be embarrassing,” he said.

Critics had jeered at Duterte’s threat of setting up a revolutionary government, saying it was based on imagined fears and would just pave the way for a dictatorship.

Duterte said he was not happy in his post because of the sheer volume of work and pressure on him. Moreover, he was already old, being already 72, he pointed out.

He also reminded the people not to ask what kind of illness he had.

“Do not ever ask and old man, 50 years old and above ‘Are you OK? Do you have no illness?’ because that is disrespectful. Everybody at that age is sick,” he said.

In previous instances, the President had not taken kindly to questions about his health.

He has admitted to having Buerger’s disease, a condition where blood vessels constrict due to the accumulation of nicotine.

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He also has Barrett’s esophagus, a complication of gastroesophageal reflux disease and which involves changes in the tissue lining the esophagus. /atm

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