{"id":151805,"date":"2018-02-08T23:35:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T04:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=151805"},"modified":"2018-02-08T23:35:56","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T04:35:56","slug":"duterte-admits-being-a-dictator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/02\/08\/duterte-admits-being-a-dictator\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte admits being a ‘dictator’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"President<\/a>
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, in his message to the rebel returnees at Malaca\u00f1an Palace on February 7, 2018, explains how insurgency has stunted the development of the agriculture sector in the hinterlands. ACE MORANDANTE\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, Philippines \u2014 President Rodrigo Duterte admitted that he is \u201creally a dictator,\u201d but stressed that is it for the \u201cgood\u201d of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you say I am a\u00a0dictator, I will be a dictator. Because I will not be a dictator. Nothing will happen to this country if I will be a dictator. That\u2019s true. If I won\u2019t be a dictator with that style now, nothing will happen to our country,\u201d Duterte said before former communist rebels in Malaca\u00f1ang.<\/p>\n

The president said he is insulted as activists describe his government as a \u201cUS-Duterte regime.”<\/p>\n

Duterte said he did not even like to talk to Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I said that I would bomb the schools, they said \u2018Duterte is a dictator, fascist, this and that, US\u2019 son of a bitch.\u2019 It\u2019s an insult. When did I become a puppet of the Americans?\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I don\u2019t talk to Americans\u2014those military types, arms and such \u2026 I don\u2019t want to talk to them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

After the cancellation of peace talks between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the government, Duterte allayed fears from the public as he has no intention to be a dictator, insisting that he just wanted to craft a new constitution to combat corruption in the country.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said that a dictatorship under Duterte is impossible even if the country shifts into a federal form of government.<\/p>\n

The president also told soldiers to shoot him if he decided to cling to power and became a dictator.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I extend my term of office, even for a day, if I became a dictator\u2026shoot me. I am not kidding,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Duterte also called on Filipinos to reject a dictatorship as he vowed to push for federalism before his term ends.<\/p>\n

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque described a potential dictatorship as far-fetched, saying that Duterte is an \u201cadvocate of the rule of law\u201d and has no intention to perpetuate him in power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA, Philippines \u2014 President Rodrigo Duterte admitted that he is \u201creally a dictator,\u201d but stressed that is it for the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":151806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[46179,978,13135,20852,46181,13487,46180],"class_list":["post-151805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-former-communist-rebels","tag-malacanang","tag-president-rodrigo-duterte","tag-presidential-communications-operations-office-pcoo","tag-presidential-spokesman-harry-roqu","tag-secretary-martin-andanar","tag-us-duterte-regime","mauthors-carlo-jacob-molina","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151805","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=151805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}