Palace says ‘people power’ vs. Duterte won’t succeed

Malacañang on Monday dismissed the possibility of a "people power" supposedly aimed at ousting President Rodrigo Duterte, saying the chief executive has the people's mandate to serve until 2022.

Military-backed civilian uprisings deposed former presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada in 1986 and 2001, respectively, over allegations of corruption and misrule. Marcos was also accused of massive human rights violations during Martial Law from 1972 to 1981.

"Sinuportahan natin iyong People Power na ’86 kasi iyong tinanggal sa puwesto wala nang mandato. Hindi n’yo po mape-people power ang tao na merong mandato. ‘Wag na po silang managinip ng people power para matanggal si Presidente sa kanyang posisyon," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said at a news conference.

"People power po will work kung wala pong mandato iyong tinatanggal, it will not work when the people elected the President to a fixed term of office."

Roque gave the reaction after Brigadier General Antonio Parlade, Armed Forces of the Philippines deputy chief of staff for operations, said the "Red October" ouster plan against Duterte remains even if the supposed September 21 plot did not push through.

Parlade said the opposition coalition Tindig Pilipinas nearly forged an alliance for the September 21 plot, but begged off after finding out that communist leaders were behind the plan.

Duterte had said the communist movement, political opposition and the Magdalo group of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV were plotting to remove him from the presidency.

"We have no doubts that the AFP has intelligence information on this. 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," Roque said.

"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."

Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said he could not say whether the Red October oust plot really seeks to remove Duterte from office, although he admitted they have received reports that groups were out to discredit the administration.

Leftist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) dismissed the military's claims as a lie and said it was just a prelude to a military-sanctioned bid to subject groups critical of the Duterte administration to police and military surveillance and action. — RSJ, GMA News