Philippines: Duterte Threatens Secession, Marcos Threatens Civil War

Eyyyy.

Rody Duterte is back in the news, for another awesome reason!

For those of you who may not have been around way back when, the former President of the Philippines was a big hero of this website in 2016 when he was elected on a promise to send death squads out to murder junkies on the streets. He ended up doing this, and then taking it a step further, telling citizens that they would not be punished for killing junkies, and encouraged them to do so. It was awesome.

As it happened, he was not really able to fix the country’s problems, because the Philippines is in a blood pact with the United States, which prevents the country from digging itself out of the economic pit it is in. The US alliance means that the Philippines cannot receive Chinese investment, which means they are stuck in the pit of an abused former colony, treading water.

He had some health problems. Under circumstances we don’t understand, he agreed to let a new guy take over the country, son of former Filipino leader Ferdinand Marcos, under the understanding that his daughter would take over the country soon. Now, like his father, Marcos is attempting to make himself president for life.

The Guardian:

The Philippine government is ready to use “authority and forces” against attempts to divide the nation, a security official has said, after former president Rodrigo Duterte threatened to separate some southern islands from the rest of the archipelago.

Duterte has called for the independence of his home region, Mindanao, from the Philippines as his alliance with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr disintegrated this week over disagreements around efforts to amend the constitution.

Marcos said amending the 1987 constitution was meant to ease foreign investments, but Duterte accused him of using constitutional change to stay in power.

National security adviser Eduardo Ano said in a statement any attempt to secede “will be met by the government with resolute force”, citing “recent calls to separate Mindanao” but without specifically naming Duterte.

“The national government will not hesitate to use its authority and forces to quell and stop any and all attempts to dismember the republic,” Ano said.

Violence and conflict had plagued Mindanao for decades as the government battled insurgents and extremists, which has discouraged investments and left many villages in poverty.

The region’s largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), had signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government in 2014, withdrawing their fight for independence in exchange for enhanced autonomy in a Muslim region called the Bangsamoro.

Philippine armed forces chief Romeo Brawner told soldiers on Saturday “to remain united and loyal to the constitution and the chain of command”.

The reason he told the military that is that much of the military would go to war for Duterte.

I would say Duterte is too old to start a war, but the man is some kind of machine.

It could get interesting.

Duterte, who is ethnically part Chinese, could probably get support from China if he went to war with US-backed shill Marcos.