A research firm on Friday said a return to dictatorship was highly unlikely in the Philippines even as President Rodrigo Duterte’s repeated threats to impose martial law and to suspend barangay or village elections have heightened political instability.

“Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has warned once again on March 23 that he may impose martial law nationally, and defer local elections across the nation for more than 42,000 districts which were scheduled for October 2017,” said BMI Research, a unit of the Fitch Group, in a report.