DECLARING martial law in the country won’t happen because the soldiers are loyal to the flag and not to him, President Rodrigo Duterte said.
Speaking to troops of the Eastern Mindanao Command, this city, President Duterte said that the Supreme Court could rest assured that the country was not headed into a state of anarchy.
“Would the military and police agree that I would do something that would create anarchy?” he said.
Mr. Duterte, addressing Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno, said that the military only had the interest of the country and not the sitting president in their minds as they defend the country’s peace and safety.
“I will be the first they will kill, ma’am,” the President said, addressing the Chief Justice.
“If I have the tendency to go ahead with anarchy and go be a dictator, I know they will execute me.”
Earlier, Chief Justice Sereno referred to Mr. Duterte’s approach in fighting illegal drugs as a step towards chaos.
According to Sereno, it was the role of the judiciary to “keep the social fabric intact, address people’s cry for justice, and thereby prevent society’s descent to anarchy.”
At the Malacanang Palace, Duterte spokesperson Ernesto Abella told clarified that the palace was aware of the context of Chief Justice Sereno’s statements.
“Regarding a newspaper headline that says courts are out to stop slide into anarchy, I’d just like to say that the actual statement of Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno was actually a statement of the court ideal that the judiciary’s role is to keep the social fabric intact to address people’s cry for justice, and thereby prevent society’s descent into anarchy,” Abella said.
“The statement is very clear that it was a simple explanation, and not a statement on the state of things.”
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