HOLDING a “people power” revolt is “no bluffing matter,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday as he shared his thoughts about revolutions amid mobilization by supporters of Vice President Sara Duterte and former president Rodrigo Dutertre at the Edsa Shrine or Our Lady of Peace Church in Ortigas in Quezon City.
“My advice to the advocates of revolution or people power is to go ahead to a shop and buy your revolutionary or people power kit, and start the game you like, if you really can do it. Revolution or people power is no bluffing matter. It is an ultima ratio, where there is no point of return. It is a zero-sum game. Either you win or you lose. That’s it,” he said in a Facebook post.
The Philippine National Police has said around 200 policemen have been deployed to monitor the gathering at the EDSA Shrine.
There were only about 20 Duterte supporters yesterday at the Shrine, according to PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen, Jean Fajardo.
Despite the small number of supporters, the PNP will continue to monitor the situation, she said.
Enrile was among the key personalities in the 1986 “people power revolution” that toppled the administration of then-President Ferdinand E. Marcos, father of the current president.
Duterte supporters started to gather at the Edsa Shrine since Tuesday last week after Malacañang branded earlier remarks of the Vice President as an active threat against the President. Law enforcement authorities have launched instigations into the matter.
The Vice President last week said she has instructed someone to kill President Marcos Jr, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and the Speaker Martin Romualdez if she were to be killed.
She later claimed that it was not an active threat but a hypothetical scenario.
The Edsa Shrine was also the site of “Edsa Dos” of 2001 that ousted then-President Joseph Estrada.
