No legal basis for planned revolutionary government – lawmaker
MANILA, Philippines — The planned declaration of a revolutionary government being floated by President Duterte and his allies has neither legal nor historical basis, an independent opposition lawmaker insisted yesterday.
“The RevGov to be imposed by the President has neither constitutional anchorage nor historical ancestry. No amount of destabilization, chaos or designs to topple the government will justify Duterte’s projected declaration of a RevGov,” Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said.
“A revolutionary government emerges as an aftermath of a successful people’s revolution like the EDSA People Power Revolution. A current dispensation does not stage a coup d’état against itself,” the lawmaker added.
Like what Duterte did to the entire island-region of Mindanao, Lagman said the Chief Executive “can declare martial law when public safety requires it” if “chaos, destabilization and ouster movement constitute invasion or rebellion.”
“However, such imposition of martial law is subject to the oversight powers of the Congress and the Supreme Court. The President cannot institute a reactionary government monikered as a RevGov to evade the restrictions of martial law under the 1987 Constitution,” Lagman said.
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