US democracy remains ‘strong to the bone’: Locsin

MANILA – Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr. on Thursday expressed confidence that the United States remains “strong to the bone”, following a riot in the US Capitol Building that left one dead and several injured.

In a tweet, Locsin said that despite the upheaval in the US, the world power is capable of coping with such a civil disturbance and still “fight wars on three fronts if it wants to — and come out the winner.”

“US can handle this and more — sad as it is to see — and still emerge the world’s leading power. This is not a nightmare of democracy but a fever,” Locsin said.

He noted that only a “nightmare of authoritarianism” can be “mortally wounded” by such events.

“Saw this before. Democracy is elastic steel,” Locsin said.

Locsin said the events were a “parody” of the Philippines’ EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986.

“A correct and magnificent analogy is People Power taking the Palace by peaceful power marches & assemblies culminating in the epic face-off between tanks and unarmed protestors ending in their union which toppled a dying regime. Our Finest Hour. Yesterday parodied that,” Locsin said.

The riot, started by thousands of supporters of US President Donald Trump, began with a gathering at the National Mall early Wednesday in the US to protest the November presidential election results as the US Congress began counting the Electoral College votes.

Following a call from Trump to his supporters to go to the Capitol Building, the gathering escalated into a riot where civilians breached the Capitol’s barricades, smashed windows, scaled the building’s balconies, prompting US Vice President Mike Pence and several other high-ranking US officials to be taken to secure locations.

A woman attempting to enter a barricaded part of the Capitol was shot in the neck and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, aside from many injuries on both sides and several arrests.