FEF: Desist from talks on revolutionary government

THE Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) in a statement on Monday, Nov. 6, called on “the authorities to unequivocally dispel and disown all talk of a ‘revolutionary government.’”

“Declaration of a revolutionary government will be bad for business, bad for the economy, bad for the country. A revolutionary government is a government with no rules. Uncertainty will reign. Nobody would want to invest or do business in a society without rules. This is not to mention the possibility of conflict and chaos. Our hard-earned economic momentum will be stopped in its tracks,” warned the group, which consists of business leaders, former government technocrats and other top experts.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte in a TV interview last October threatened anew to declare a revolutionary government and arrest “destabilizers” such as communist rebels and the “yellow” circle of the opposition Liberal Party.

Mr. Duterte had earlier dared these forces to band together, a scenario in keeping with the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos’s conspiracy theory in his Notes on the New Society from 45 years ago.

But the model for a revolutionary government that Mr. Duterte cited in his October interview was Corazon C. Aquino’s post-Marcos transition government, which discarded the operating constitution at the time, became essentially authoritarian in character but continued to observe free speech and other human rights.

FEF, in its statement, said “such talk” of a revolutionary government, “even from unofficial or from unauthorized sources, injects political uncertainty to our economic progress and will make investors hold off on investing in the country. Even existing investors will be penalized since customers may refuse to buy from a country source with much uncertainty.”

“There can be no justification for a revolutionary government, even talks or the notion thereof, no matter how well-intentioned. It serves no useful purpose and just scares away investors,” the group also said, adding further:

“There are no problems that can’t be fixed within our democratic space, such as the passage of an Emergency Powers bill to address problems in transport and infrastructure.”

“We, therefore, call on the authorities to send a clear and unmistakable signal that it’s committed to democracy and the rule of law and that it completely disassociates itself from all plans and talk, whether from fringe supporters or unofficial sources, on the installation of a revolutionary government.”