A group supporting President Rodrigo Duterte, whose six-year term ends on June 30, 2022, has renewed calls for him to declare a revolutionary government with him at the helm.
“We are urging our Filipino brothers and sisters to join us in declaring a revolutionary government and appeal to the president to head this revolutionary government, to institute the changes up to the end of his term,” said Bobby Brillante, deputy national spokesperson of the MRRD-NECC.
The acronym stands for Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte-National Executive Coordinating Committee, in reference to his local post for years in Davao City before he was swept to Malacañang during the presidential elections in 2016.
Brillante joined other groups at the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone in Pampanga for a manifesto signing where signatories called for the revolutionary government and to push for a shift to federalism while Duterte still has two years left before he bows out of office.
“This is a people’s initiative type and we can no longer wait for Congress to institute changes. This is a signing of a manifesto statement of support and coalition building. The manifesto that we have today will be the basis of our unity. Considering there is a limited time remaining [in] his term, we have to revolutionize the process of change and we cannot leave this to Congress,” he said.
Duterte had promised to spread political power and resources that have long been held in the capital, Manila, by setting up a federal government through charter change.
The House of Representatives in the 17th Congress approved a draft federal charter on third and final reading in December 2018, but the Senate rejected it.
The People’s National Coalition For Revolutionary Government and Charter Change said Duterte should be at the helm of the revolutionary government.
It would only last until June 30, 2022. An interim revolutionary council will be established with a prime minister overseeing day-to-day affairs of government.
According to Brilliante, “It would hasten government action because right now the power is centered on the president. While here, the president has his own functions but the prime minister, through his Cabinet ministers composing the government, will run the day-to-day operations and they would be directly accountable to the people.”