{"id":123355,"date":"2017-10-12T22:02:06","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T02:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=123355"},"modified":"2017-10-12T22:02:06","modified_gmt":"2017-10-13T02:02:06","slug":"duterte-dares-critics-to-unite-against-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/10\/12\/duterte-dares-critics-to-unite-against-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte dares critics to unite against him"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (MARCELINO PASCUA\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong> \u2014 President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday dared all his critics to unite into one group so that he could easily focus on all of them.<\/p>\n

The President issued the challenge during the relaunching of the newly-renovated press briefing room at the New Executive Building in Malaca\u00f1ang.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be happy really if they would start to merge into one command.\u00a0Itong mga komunista at itong<\/em>\u00a0Liberal.\u00a0At ito \u2018yung iba na gustong paalisin ako. Mag-isa-isa na lang kayo, isang grupo<\/em>,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n

Administration allies have accused the Liberal Party (LP) and left-leaning groups of engaging in a destabilization plot to oust President Duterte from office.<\/p>\n

The Liberal Party has repeatedly denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you share the same ideological whatever para hindi na masyadong mag-kalat ang ano — we can focus on all of you,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

However, the President said that he would rather keep silent about his critics because his focus right now is at the armed rebellion being waged by terrorists and the New Peoples\u2019 Army (NPA).<\/p>\n

\u201cGusto ko lang malaman ninyo na \u2018wag na muna ako diyan sa mga criticisms sa mga<\/em>\u00a0Trillanes thing,\u00a0itong mga<\/em>\u00a0Yellow,\u00a0itong mga<\/em>\u00a0Reds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Yellows refers to the Liberal Party and their allies who have used the color since the time of the late President Corazon Aquino.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is an avowed critic of Duterte since he was still mayor of Davao City.<\/p>\n

Duterte said that if the Marawi rebellion waged by the Islamic State-inspired Maute terror groujp is replicated simultaneously in major cities in Mindanao and the Visayas, the country would be in trouble.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could just imagine if what happened in Marawi would have happened to about three or four cities in Philippines. This is an open secret anyway among the military and the police that if these were to happen simultaneous in three big cities or four, it could be Basilan, Zamboanga, Cagayan, Davao and Cotabato and about one or two in the Visayas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

President Duterte declared martial law in the whole of Mindanao on May 23 when Maute terrorists laid siege of Marawi City.<\/p>\n

But while state forces are engaged with the ISIS-inspired extremists, the NPA staged multiple offensives against the government prompting Duterte to cancel formal peace talks with the communists.<\/p>\n

“And I don\u2019t think they (NPA) have this modus vivendi with the enemy. But if the Reds would finally do it, then they are now in alignment with the Reds, the terrorists and the — itong droga. I think this country would go into shambles.\u00a0Alam ninyo \u2018yan maski dalawa lang<\/em>,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cModus vivendi\u201d is an arrangement or agreement allowing conflicting parties to coexist peacefully, either indefinitely or until a final settlement is reached.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re trying our best just to keep silent. I have to build a strong army and the police. Not to perpetuate myself, I don\u2019t need it. I find even the thought of just mentioning it an idiotic thing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there are challenges ahead, threats that could come our way after I shall have stepped down. If this will continue for another time, this will continue to bug our children and grandchildren. I\u2019m sorry but this is the reality, not the reality of the Duterte administration, but the reality of the problems confronting our country today,\u201d Duterte said.\u00a0(PNA)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA \u2014 President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday dared all his critics to unite into one group so that he could …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":123356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[13775,13135,20659],"class_list":["post-123355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-liberal-party-lp","tag-president-rodrigo-duterte","tag-reds","mauthors-jose-cielito-reganit","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}