TOP administration officials on Thursday vowed to unmask and “cripple” groups that are plotting to overthrow President Rodrigo Duterte.
“They will not succeed. We will cripple them before they can walk,” Solicitor General Jose Calida told radio dzRH in a mix of English and Filipino.
“The best defense is offense. We will file cases against those who break the law,” he added.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, meanwhile, said efforts are underway to unmask the people behind the plot to overthrow Duterte.
“We are still trying to find out who they are, and what is their purpose,” Lorenzana said shortly after a ceremony at Camp Aguinaldo in which China turned over high-powered firearms to the Philippine military.
Calida earlier accused the “yellow” opposition, referring to the Liberal Party; the communists; and some members of the clergy of launching “black operations” against the President.
He told dzRH that some businessmen, members of the media and bloggers were also involved in the plot.
Calida said these groups wanted to overthrow Duterte by the first quarter of 2018.
While he would not reveal the names of those whom he accused of plotting against the President, he hinted that some had lost during the previous elections.
These people started to plot against Duterte after he took office, and waited for key events—such as the death of Grade 11 student Kian delos Santos, to make their move, Calida said.
He also said that students in Catholic universities were being brainwashed, comparing these to Islamic schools that radicalized their students.
But Calida said plots to overthrow the government would not succeed because of Duterte’s popularity and high trust ratings.
Lorenzana, however, seemed less certain who was behind the plot, or even if there was one.
Asked if there were destabilization efforts underway, he said: “I don’t know, I don’t know really.”
He said he had intended to talk to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II about it during their last Cabinet meeting, but they were busy attending to other matters.
After accusing the communists of colluding with the political opposition to oust him, the President on Thursday ruled out a resumption of peace talks, saying it may take “another president to do it.”
Speaking to troops during the Philippine Army’s change of command at Fort Bonifacio, Duterte said that he will no longer to talk peace with the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army or the National Democratic Front, saying their demands were “not really possible” to meet.
“We are fighting the New People’s Army. At this stage, I am not ready to talk to them because it is not good for the country,” Duterte said.
He said 50 years of listening to the communist rebels has done no good.
Duterte also repeated his appeal to the military to overthrow him, if they find more than P40 million in his bank accounts—referring to accusations by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and the Office of the Ombudsman that he had ill-gotten wealth.
“Please oust me if I tell a lie to you,” he said.
On Wednesday, Duterte claimed there is a concerted effort by the leftists and the opposition Liberal Party—which he referred to as “the Yellows”—to oust him.
“They want to evict me from Malacañang, so give me time to pack,” he said in Filipino.
Aguirre earlier said that the government is working to counter actions by “enemies of the state,” including Islamic State-inspired terrorists, the communists, drug cartels, “seditious political opposition or ‘Yellowtards’,” and foreign intelligence agencies that seek to generate international support for regime change.
Two Liberal Party senators branded accusations of an ouster plot as another “diversionary tactic” to divert public attention from the President’s real problems.
Senator Francis Pangilinan, LP president, said it was a “fake ouster plot,” because even Lorenzana had said he had not monitored it.
“They are looking for something to divert the attention of the media and the public from the scandal of corruption, drug smuggling by the Davao Group, and the failed drug war in which people are killed every day,” Pangilinan said in Filipino.
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV had earlier implicated the President’s son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and his son-in-law, Manases Carpio, of being in the Davao Group, which allegedly took money to facilitate shipments through the Bureau of Customs.
The vice mayor and Carpio have denied the allegations.
Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV maintained that the LP is not involved in any ouster plot against Duterte, even as he criticized efforts by the administration to silence dissenters and critics.
“This is no longer healthy for our democracy. In a democracy, we should be able to say what we truly feel. Dissent and opposition should be allowed. We can see that many Filipinos oppose this administration’s policies,” he added in Filipino.
Aquino also criticized Aguirre for branding “yellowtards” as enemies of the state during the launching of a group that intends to protect President Duterte’s administration.
He said this was out-and-out political persecution.
Aquino emphasized that the minority will continue to work on important matters crucial to the country, like the 2018 national budget and the tax reform.
He said Duterte’s ouster plot claim was probably another lie, just like the one he admitted to making up about Trillanes’ alleged offshore bank accounts.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, an administration ally, said it was possible that someone had considered a plot to oust Duterte, but with the President’s approval rating of 82 percent, it would be difficult.