Palace: NBI probe vs ‘Red October’ plotters not a ‘crackdown’ vs critics

Malacañang denied on Wednesday that the investigation of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on those behind the reported “Red October” ouster plot, which allegedly includes the opposition, was a “crackdown” against President Rodrigo Duterte’s critics.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the NBI has started an investigation into the claim of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that the some of the opposition and the communist rebels were conniving to oust Duterte.

Guevarra said some of the charges that could be filed against the destabilizers are sedition and coup d’etat.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the NBI was just doing its job.

“Ginagawa lang ng NBI ang katungkulan nila, tinitignan kung merong lumalabag sa batas at kung merong lumalabag sa batas ay sasampahan ng kaso sa piskalya para masampahan sa hukuman. Hindi po ito crackdown; ito po ay katungkulan,” Roque said in an ambush interview in Malacañang on Thursday.

Roque assured the involved parties that they would be given due process.

“Of course lahat ng makakasuhan ay bibigyan ng due process at bibigyan sila ng pagkakataong madinig at sumagot,” he said.

Duterte earlier said the opposition, some soldiers and the enemies of the state were in cahoots to overthrow him. /je

READ: Duterte says some soldiers conniving with Liberal Party, Reds to oust him