Baste Duterte tells Marcos to resign

Davao City Mayor Sebastian ‘Baste’ Duterte dared President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. to resign during a speech in Davao City on Sunday afternoon.

In a 24 Oras Weekend report on Sunday, of GMA Regional TV Rgil Relator, the mayor was speaking infront of Officials of the Davao City government and Duterte supporters gathered at a leader’s forum where the main topic of discussion was the people’s initiative (PI).

Speaking in bisaya, Duterte dared President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. to step down as chief executive.

“Mr. President, if you do not have love or have no aspirations for your country, resign,” Duterte said.

“You are lazy and you lack compassion… All of these things that he is causing in oppressing the people. So there, he is putting politics first, their self-preservation of their political lives. They are not doing their jobs first,” Duterte added.

Duterte also accused the people behind the PI of using it to remain in power.

Instead, the mayor said that programs of the previous administration– that of his father, former president Rodrigo Duterte– should be continued, including the campaign against illegal drugs.

After his tirade, the mayor did not give further details on why he said those things about Marcos. Duterte instead said there is instability in the government but did not elaborate.

During his speech at the prayer rally, Duterte delivered a somewhat ominous message to President Marcos.

“Just a simple message sa ating Pangulo: From now on, before you go to bed, think of the Romanovs. Think of Benito Mussolini and his wife. And think of what happened to you in 1986 and maybe you'll reconsider the direction that you are taking.”

The mayor was referring to historical figures who met tragic fates: the last Russian emperor, Czar Nicholas II of the House of Romanov and his family were executed by their communist captors 1918.

Mussolini or Il Duce (Leader), was an Italian dictator and fascist who was an ally of Adolf Hitler in World War II. After he was sacked by the King of Italy as the country’s leader, Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, tried to escape to neutral Switzerland. Instead they were captured by partisans who executed them for war crimes, their bodies were later hung upside down from a gas station and desecrated by an angry mob.

GMA Integrated News has reached out to Malacanang for its reaction to Duterte's comments.

Also speaking at the event were Vic Rodriguez, the former executive secretary of Marcos and Davao 1st District congressman and former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

Former president Duterte is expected to attend a prayer rally at Rizal Park in Davao City on Sunday evening.

Also expected to attend the meeting is Vice President Sara Duterte who earlier attended the Bagong Pilipinas kick-off rally at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. —RF, GMA Integrated News