SENATORS yesterday again expressed their opposition to the proposal to establish a revolutionary government saying it would only divide the nation.
“We shouldn’t even discuss it now. We have so many problems. Revolutionary government is a dictatorship plain and simple,” Senator Richard Gordon said.
“Kawawa ang tao diyan. I would oppose that, I am squarely against it, and I like that our other colleagues are also against it,” Gordon further said.
“We will lose the respect of the world and our economy will go down as it did during the time of Mr. Marcos,” the senator stressed referring to former President Ferdinand Marcos.
Earlier, President Duterte admitted that he is amenable to a public discussion on any proposed changes in government including the controversial call for a revolutionary government that a certain group supporting him has initiated.
“There is nothing to discuss about a revolutionary government. There is absolutely no justification nor legal basis for it. It is a very dangerous proposition. It is divisive and could plunge the country into social unrest and even civil war,” Sen. Panfilo Lacson said.
For his part, Sen. Sonny Angara recalled that the last time the country was under a revolutionary government was in 1986 during the EDSA Revolution.
He also recalled that attempts to install a revolutionary government during the term of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s had been a chaotic time for the country and eventually contributed to the collapse of the economy.
“Hindi naging maganda ang karanasan ng bansa—bumagsak ang ekonomiya, sumama ang lagay ng lahat,” Angara said.
“Bahagi ng pag-mature natin bilang isang bansang demokratiko ang pagtanggap ng pamumuhay sa ilalim ng Saligang Batas. Kasama dito ang pangingibabaw ng civilian rule kaysa sa batas o lakas militar,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan stressed that whatever open discussion that needs to be done now should be on how the government will overhaul its COVID-19 response “which is marred with incompetence, corruption, and five months into the pandemic, is headed nowhere.”
“How to address the deaths, the spread of the disease, hunger and joblessness is the immediate concern of our citizens and not the irrelevant revolutionary government discussion,” Pangilinan said.
“Dagdag sa problema at hindi solusyon sa problema yang revolutionary government na yan,” he added.
