The son and daughter of Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte drew large crowds in Hong Kong on Sunday as the Philippines celebrated the 32nd anniversary of the People Power Revolution that toppled the late dictator Marcos Ferdinand.
The event was organized by Tapang at Malasakit Alliance for the Philippines, a pro-Duterte supporters group started by the president’s 39-year-old daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio, who now holds her father’s former post as mayor of Davao City in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
Speaking in Central yesterday, Duterte-Carpio thanked supporters for backing Duterte and campaigning for his 2016 victory.
Her younger brother Sebastian “Baste” Duterte — a surfer who stars in his own travel show and who was called a “jerk” by his dad — also spoke at the event, saying it was a great time to be Filipino.
Not everyone agreed.
Little more than a kilometer away, a group of Filipinos called HK Coalition Against Duterte’s Tyranny, held a counter rally, marching to the country’s consulate in Admiralty with banners denouncing “dictatorship” and “state terrorism” in the Philippines.
“As overseas Filipinos, we cannot let our country return to the dark days of martial law and dictatorship,” said Eman Villanueva, the organizer of the march.
“What we are seeing now is Duterte’s obsession to absolute control — over all the government branches including the judiciary and the legislature; control over mass media; control over businesses; and control over land and resources.”
Duterte has been condemned internationally for overseeing a bloody drug war that has left thousands dead.
While critics accuse him of steering the country back towards authoritarianism, he remains popular in the archipelago nation and among the large communities of Filipinos working abroad.
His son and daughter first visited Macau before arriving in Hong Kong accompanied by a troupe of other pro-Duterte figures.
Among the entourage were celebrity blogger-turned-government official Mocha Uson and actor Robin Padilla, who thought it necessary to reinforce his onscreen tough guy persona by shoving a “white guy” he accused of disrespecting a Filipina posing for selfies.
https://youtu.be/yRAoQcEugAE
That incident, caught on video shared by pinoythinking.net, happened in a hotel lobby and not at the Durerte rally, which was held in Central near the General Post Office.
It was held to mark the 1986 People Power Revolution, a series of bloodless protests that led to the ousting of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, effectively restoring democracy in the Philippines.
Duterte himself, however, has avoided taking part in the celebrations, which many have linked to his vocal support for the Marcos family.
