‘Only one person should be in control’: Rodrigo Duterte is again flirting with an ominous idea about the rule of law in the Philippines

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s rhetoric on a number of issues has zig-zagged during his six months in office.

He has vacillated on his stance toward US-Philippine ties, alternately repudiating the Obama administration and embracing the incoming Trump administration.

Domestically, he has gone back and forth on the issue of martial law, repeatedly suggesting imposing it before backing off.

Duterte returned to the subject this week, bemoaning the constitutional limits on how the Philippine president could deal with security threats like war.

“If you have martial law, only one person should be in control,” Duterte said during a visit to the northern Philippines on Thursday.

“If there’s invasion or war and I declare martial law, I cannot proceed on and on to deal with the trouble as I still have to go to Congress, go to the Supreme Court,” he added, according to AFP. “That’s why that needs to be replaced.”

 

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Featured image courtesy of Reuters.