Armed Forces chief Gen. Carlito Galvez on Tuesday said the Liberal Party and the Magdalo Group were not in cahoots with communist rebels in the alleged “Red October” plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte even as Malacañang insisted that individual members of the opposition were involved.
READ: Military info to expose ‘Red October’ plotters”‹
“Basically this is a sinister plot of the CCP-NPA [Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army],” Galvez said. “[T]hey would like to have a coalition with the opposition.”
Galvez’s statement before the Senate finance committee contradicted Duterte’s assertion that Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Liberal Party president Senator Francis Pangilinan had formed an alliance with communist rebels to remove him from office.
When Trillanes asked if the alleged coup plotters had indeed coalesced, Galvez said no.
Pangilinan also categorically asked Galvez about the coalition being claimed by Malacañang.
“So there is no coalition between the Liberal Party, [Magdalo], and the Communist Party to oust Duterte?” Pangilinan said.
“Sir, none sir,” Galvez said.
But Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque insisted that “individual members” of the Liberal Party were involved in efforts to oust Duterte.
“I am sure individual members of the Liberal Party, as the President said, maybe in collusion with the CPP-NPA,” Roque said.
He insisted that Trillanes has repeatedly called for the President’s ouster.
“He [Trillanes] has actually verbalized time and again, that he [Duterte] should step down, that he should be removed from office and sent to jail. There’s absolutely no inconsistency,” said Roque.
“It could be true that there is no formal memorandum of agreement between the party itself and the CPP-NPA, [but] it does not prevent leading personalities within the Liberal Party from [colluding with the communists],” Roque added.
Duterte, for his part, ordered the military and the police to shift from crime prevention to “neutralization” tactics against the NPA.
“We are not into crime prevention. Even the police are now involved. It’s now neutralization. Then, we can solve the problem,” the President said in his speech Tuesday before members of the Philippine Army’s 803rd Infantry Brigade in Catarman, Northern Samar.
“We are now on netralization mode. There is no need to produce a warrant [of arrest],” the President added. “If you get them, it’s neutralization. I will be criticized but I’m telling you, I am guiding you what is practical and what is true and legal.”
Pangilinan, for his part, said his party had no desire to forcibly remove the President.
“We will not support any unconstitutional approach or unconstitutional move…We swore an oath to uphold and defend this Constitution, and any unconstitutional act, we will not be party to, and we will oppose,” he said.
Pangilinan likewise expressed concern that the military was being used in partisan politics, particularly when it was giving out information to the media about ouster plots.
But Galvez insisted that the military was steering clear of politics.
In the same hearing, Galvez said the communists have reportedly organized students in 10 Manila universities to support an information drive that likened the administration to the martial law regime of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.
Galvez said the communists have also penetrated labor groups who will mobilize against Duterte.
He said they would begin by heightening agitation against the government, as they did during the First Quarter Storm.
He added that the communists wanted to create chaos and force the President’s hand to declare martial law and form a revolutionary government.
In a statement, the CPP said Duterte and his minions in the AFP have gone “completely cuckoo” in claiming that they were “pushing” the President to declare martial law.
“Again, there is no Red October plot orchestrated by the CPP. The more Duterte and the AFP are trying to prove this so-called plot, the more they sound incredulous,” the communists said.
“To now claim that the CPP will create chaos, supposedly like in Plaza Miranda to force Duterte to fulfill his most ardent wish, is at best, lazy and clumsy. Why should the CPP push for martial law nationwide when it has repeatedly condemned and called for the lifting of martial law in Mindanao? Why should it push for something which has relentlessly inflicted atrocious crimes on the people?” it asked.
Also on Tuesday, the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) denied allegations that it is being recruited by the communists to help in their alleged “Red October” plot. With Vito Barcelo
