President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said that to rid the government of corruption, a president’s best course of action was to declare martial law.
Duterte made the statement during his final State of the Nation Address as he decried the “system” that peddled corruption.
“Corruption, it’s endemic in government. You cannot stop corruption. Nobody can stop corruption unless you overturn the government completely,” he said.
“If I were the next president, if you think there’s really a need for you to change everybody in the system, then you declare martial law and fire everybody and allow the new generation to come in to work for the government,” he continued.
Duterte likened the prevalence of corruption to the proliferation of illegal drugs.
“Kagaya ng drugs, sino ba namang maniwala na nine—nine generals sa pulis were into trafficking of drugs? And because they are policemen, the charges simply just, you know, disappear there. Because the prosecution, the investigation which form part of the vital documents in court, wala e. Nobody was investigating because they are also policemen,” Duterte said.
The former Davao City mayor was the second president after late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to have declared martial law.
Duterte placed Mindanao under martial law from May 23, 2017 to Dec. 31, 2019 after the Marawi siege perpetrated by terrorists from the Islamic State-affiliate Maute group.
Under the 1987 Constitution, martial law can only be declared to “prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion.” John Ezekiel J. Hirro