Inday Sara: Duterte’s destab plot info came from offices of opposition people

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Sunday said President Rodrigo Duterte's claim of destabilization plots against his administration was based on intelligence reports and information from reliable sources.

"The threat of destabilization is as real as terrorism," Carpio said in a statement.

She said that the administration's information on the supposed destabilization plots came "from inside the offices of the people identified with the opposition."

The Davao City mayor did not elaborate or name the opposition members involved in the supposed plot against her father.

"Power grabbers have made their point, made their presence felt, caught our attention, and we know who they are,” she said.

Carpio issued the statement a day after civil society group Tindig Pilipinas launched a signature campaign urging Duterte to sign a bank secrecy waiver.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who was at the launch of the signature drive, had accused Duterte of having at least P2 billion in unexplained wealth.

In an earlier interview on Sunday, Trillanes denied that the signature drive is part of a destabilization plot against Duterte. He said Duterte was being paranoid.

Carpio said in her statement that her father was not paranoid.

Duterte had threatened that he will declare a revolutionary government if destabilization plots against his administration continues and cause chaos.

"'Pag ang destablization ninyo patagilid na at medyo magulo na, I will not hesitate to declare a revolutionary government until the end of my term," he said in a report on state-run PTV  News on Friday.

"I will arrest all of you and we can go to a full-scale war against the Reds," Duterte added.

Albay Representative Edcel Lagman, a member of the opposition, had said that Duterte's plan to declare a revolutionary government is based on "imagined fears."

Lagman denied Duterte's claim that the opposition is  plotting his ouster.

In her statement, Carpio said the people who "reacted negatively" on her father's destabilization claim were "apparently committing an act of self-defense to conceal their intentions against the Duterte administration." —Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/ALG, GMA News