Political chaos likely to follow a Duterte victory

IF THE trend will not change, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will be the next president of the country. It is almost certain that impeachment complaints will be filed against him, year after year. Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is determined to have Duterte impeached for his failure to declare assets and resources in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. Some human rights groups said they would file an impeachment complaint for his alleged human rights violations.

Duterte, knowing that he could be impeached considering that his allies would be a minority in the House of Representatives, has threatened to abolish Congress in retaliation for such a move. Although the abolition of Congress would be unconstitutional under our present democratic system, he could still do this by conspiring with the military and declaring martial law or a revolutionary government.

A leftist group, the New People’s Army with which Duterte has no qualms about admitting his connections, could join the conspiracy and sow anarchy to justify the situation. In such a scenario, the Constitution and the impeachment would be pushed out of public consciousness, and Duterte could continue to hold on to power.

If Duterte should fail in abolishing Congress, he would likely be convicted by the Senate, where he would have few allies. In this scenario, the vice president would replace him.

Both scenarios would have the same impact on our country: negative economic growth, less investments, high unemployment rate, inflation, rising commodity prices, worsening poverty, more crimes, etc. This is counter to Duterte’s promise of giving hope to the people.
—JOSE B. CARINAN, Barangay Commonwealth, Quezon City