De Lima warns vs plan to oust Leni

Detained Sen. Leila de Lima warned on Sunday that President Duterte had a “malevolent plan” to remove Vice President Leni Robredo from office so that former Sen. Fedinand Marcos Jr. would succeed him.

In a statement, De Lima said the President was tarnishing the Vice President’s image so that the public would be conditioned to accept a victory of the defeated Marcos in his electoral protest.

“[President Duterte] has expressed his preference for Marcos, Chiz Escudero, a military junta. But none of them include the constitutional mode of succession, which is the only legal way of replacing him,” she said.

De Lima added: “With the federal Charter change campaign dead on the water and a military junta having no avid takers from the military, this means that the only viable option remaining is to make sure that Marcos is in position to succeed as VP when President Duterte decides to step down.”

Malacañang, however, brushed off allegations of a “malevolent plan” to unseat Robredo as De Lima’s mere “prison hallucination.”

“Prison hallucination. How can we unseat [her], that’s pending [on] the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), the Supreme Court, not the President,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told reporters at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

De Lima made the remarks in the wake of the President’s recent tirades against Robredo, belittling her as incompetent and unfit to lead the country.

It may be recalled that Marcos filed an electoral protest against Robredo with the PET, following his defeat in the 2016 vice presidential election by 263,473 votes.

Roque maintained that President Duterte would not interfere in the electoral protest between Robredo and Marcos.

“He’s not in a position to interfere,” Roque pointed out.