The Makabayan opposition bloc in the House of Representatives on Wednesday insisted that the alleged “Red October” destabilization plot to overthrow the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte was baseless, branding it as the government’s “height of paranoia.”
In a briefing, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said government was the one destabilizing itself.
“Sana ‘yung mga script wirters ng AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) galing-galingan naman nila. Nasobrahan yata sila ng basa ng mga nobela. Ito talaga ay the height of paranoia,” Zarate said.
“What is on the red now is our economy. Don’t us. Tignan ninyo ang sarili ninyo. Kayo ang nagde-destabilize sa sarili ninyo,” he added.
Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao meanwhile said they would stage protests on October but not to oust the President but to advance their legitimate issues.
“Sa darating na Oktubre pupula talaga ang lansangan dahil ‘yan ay taunang peasant month. Hindi po ito destabilization plot, ito po ay lehitimong pagkilos ng mga magbubukid sa mga isyung nakakaapekto sa kanila,” he said.
Casilao also said the government was the one “creating its own ghost” by branding their legitimate concerns as ouster plots.
“We have concrete proposals on how to address especially the economic problems. But if our legitimate concerns are being tagged or being red-baited as destabilization plot, well ‘yung kanilang figment of imagination is haunting them,” the opposition lawmaker said.
“They are the ones creating their ghosts. Don’t us, because there was never an us,” he added.
In an earlier televised tête-à-tête with Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo Duterte said he had a copy of a “conversation provided by a foreign country sympathetic to us” between political opponents, the communists, and the Magdalo conspiring to topple his government.
READ: Duterte: Reds, Magdalo, political rivals plotting to oust me
But both the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the Liberal Party (LP) and the Magdalo group of opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV have denied the allegation. /muf
READ: NDFP on ‘Red October’: Duterte, military ‘scaring themselves to death’ | No ouster move, say Trillanes, ‘plotters’
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