Oust-Duterte plot baseless — LP
THE Liberal Party (LP) on Sunday branded as baseless a claim of President Rodrigo Duterte that the opposition, together with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), is plotting to oust him.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, LP president, said there was no truth to Duterte’s allegation, adding that the party remains faithful to the Philippine Constitution.
“That is not true and [is]baseless, we believe in all the processes of the Constitution,” Pangilinan said in a radio interview aired over dzMM.
The LP president was responding to the President’s earlier allegation that the “Yellows,” the members of LP and the communists are conniving to kick him out of Malacañang.
Duterte called on the public to watch out for the groups, including Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th, saying the oust-Duterte plot is expected to escalate in October.
But according to Pangilinan, the LP does not believe in extra-constitutional moves and would not support them.
“If removing a sitting President is an effective solution to the problems of the country, the Philippines should have been a First World country by now for ousting two Presidents already,” he pointed out.
Then-Presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada were removed by popular uprisings.
The LP president said what the country really needs is the strict implementation of policies that could address the problems that the nation has been facing.
Since the Duterte administration took over, Pangilinan added, it has always blamed the LP every time there is a blunder in its running of the country.
“The accusation of destabilization is downright false. It is ridiculous. Dissent is not destabilization. Every time scandals and controversies hound this administration, whether [they]be corruption issues or issues of incompetent governance, it blames the opposition,” Pangilinan said in a statement.
Instead of throwing baseless accusations at the LP and the opposition, the government should focus on the rising prices of goods and lack of jobs.
Pangilinan particularly cited the rice crisis that he said resulted from the incompetence of the National Food Authority (NFA).
When the Aquino administration stepped down in 2016, he said, the growth rate of the country’s agriculture was at 3.5 percent but in the last two years there was almost no growth in the sector.
“If the President doesn’t want to listen to the opposition, that’s fine but his own allies are sounding the alarm bells. Malacañang should heed the clamor of its own allies and act decisively to solve the rice crisis,” Pangilinan added.
Also on Sunday, Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo said the LP to which she belongs is not working in alliance with the CPP or Trillanes’ group to destabilize the Duterte administration.
Robredo clarified that the LP, of which she is chairman — has not formed an alliance or is negotiating with the CPP to topple the Duterte administration.
“We do not have any connection with the CPP, not even other means of interaction. We already know that the CPP exists independently of any political party. A lot of our beliefs are not the same,” she said in a radio interview.
Rep. Gary Alejano of party-list Magdalo, who visited Trillanes on Sunday, also denied Duterte’s accusations.
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There [are no talks]like that. If we talked to the Liberal Party, it is only because we are the opposition,” he said in a news conference.
Booting out Duterte knows neither ideology nor color, and anyone can participate in such movement, exiled CPP founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison said also on Sunday.
According to Sison, the President is “feeling the pressure” from Filipinos and the broad masses against his “tyranny, corruption and insanity.”
“There is no ideological check on those who participate in the broad united front and the mass movement. The most important thing is that they are patriotic enough to fight for the ouster of Duterte,” the communist leader said in a message to reporters.
Sison also claimed that several officers and enlisted personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines have been against Duterte.
“They are just waiting for the moment when the mass protests reach a certain scale and level of intensity,” he added.
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