Palace confident Duterte won’t be ousted

September 24, 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte would not be ousted despite the supposed "Red October" plot to remove him from office, Malacanang said on Monday.

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said there were no doubts about the intelligence information by the Armed Forces of the Philippines on the supposed plot against the President.

"We have no doubts that the CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army) has been out to overthrow the governments since they were founded. We have no doubts that there are power hungry individuals in the opposition who would like to resort to extra constitutional means to bring down the government of President Duterte. And we have no doubts that the Magdalo group are addicted to coup d'états," he said.

But he expressed confidence this would not succeed.

"What I will say is that we are confident that we enjoy overwhelming support from the people and therefore what these groups would want to see - the ouster of President Duterte - will not happen," Roque said.

He cited the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), showing 78 percent of Filipinos were satisfied with the administration's war on drugs.

"It’s a singular most important issue, most—it is also the source for most of the criticisms against the President and I’m happy to state that 8 of 10 Filipinos support the President on the war on drugs. This is an overwhelming support from the Filipino people. It validates the importance of the President has given to the war on drugs. It validates the means by which the President has been implementing this war on drugs," he said.

Roque acknowledged that the foreigners do not agree with the Duterte administration's implementation of its war on drugs.

"But the President does not give a hoot about what the foreigner say. He only cares about what his people have said and the people have rendered their judgment on the basis of this survey," he stressed.

Roque said no matter what, "people power" would only work if the President has no more mandate from the people. Celerina Monte/DMS