No loyalty check in Duterte visits to military camps —Palace

President Rodrigo Duterte's recent visits to military camps should not be seen as a loyalty check as the government stood by claims of an ouster plot against the chief executive, Malacañang said Thursday.

Duterte presided over the monthly joint command conference with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police on Thursday in the presidential palace, two days after he visited troops at Camp Juan Ponce Sumuroy in Catarman, Northern Samar.

The President touched base with troops at Camp O' Donnell in Tarlac and Camp Datu Lipus Makapandong in Agusan del Sur on September 20 and September 29, respectively.

"Well, siguro hindi iyan loyalty check. But it is just the President sending the message na importante ang kaniyang mga kasundaluhan at ito ay napapatunayan ng kaniyang walang tigil na pagbisita sa kanila," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said at a news conference.

Duterte has repeatedly dared the military to just ask him to leave Malacañang if they thought he was no longer doing a good job as President.

Last week, Duterte said it pained him to learn that some soldiers had been conspiring with the former ruling Liberal Party and groups critical of the administration to remove him from office in a plan dubbed "Red October."

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Carlito Galvez Jr. denied on Tuesday that the Magdalo group of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and the LP forged a coalition with the communist rebels to pull off the Red October plot.

Malacañang, however, insisted that some LP members are conniving with the Communist Party of the Philippines to oust Duterte.

"We have no doubts Red October exists, but we also have no doubt that nothing will come out of it because of the incredible  support of the people to the President," Roque said. —NB, GMA News