‘Red October’ plot ‘calibrated attempt’ to make martial law more acceptable — solons
The so-called “Red October” plot and other claims of the government that various groups are conspiring to bring down the Duterte administration are “calibrated attempts to make strongman rule more acceptable to the public,” Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman said on Tuesday.
“All of these conspiracy claims to oust the President are calibrated moves of [the] Palace to make a strongman rule more acceptable to the public,” Lagman said during a press briefing.
For his part, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano criticized the government’s “unvalidated information” given that more than P5 billion was allocated to confidential and intelligence funds under the proposed 2019 budget.
“With the estimated confidential and intelligence fund in the proposed 2019 budget [amounting] to more than P5 billion and the Armed Forces have P1.773 billion in their intelligence fund,” he said.
“Kung ganito lang ‘yung klase ng information na nakukuha nila, which are unvalidated, they told us that they continue to validate such information, eh may problema tayo because we’re wasting our money,” he added.
(If this is the kind of information they are getting, which are unvalidated, and they just keep telling us that they will validate such information, then we have a problem because we’re just wasting our money.)
Alejano also warned the AFP against floating such ouster plot ideas just to “condition the minds of the people on the possible declaration of martial law.”
Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin, meanwhile, said the Duterte administration was the one destabilizing itself.
“In a way, iyong nag-dedestabilize lang po talaga sa ating bansa ay mismong ating gobyerno dahil sa mga polisiya na hindi tugma sa gusto ng taumbayan (In a way, it’s the government that is destabilizing our country because of policies that are not in line with the needs of our citizens),” he said.
In a televised tête-à-tête with Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, President Rodrigo Duterte said he had obtained 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
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the Liberal Party (LP), and the Magdalo group of opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV had denied the allegation.
READ: NDFP on ‘Red October’: Duterte, military ‘scaring themselves to death’
READ: No ouster move, say Trillanes, ‘plotters’
The AFP had also cleared Trillanes and opposition Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan of involvement in the plot.
READ: AFP clears Trillanes, Pangilinan on ‘Red October’ ouster plot
While AFP Chief of Staff General Carlito Galvez Jr. admitted that there is no existing coalition among the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the Liberal Party (LP), and the Magdalo Partylist, he said the alleged ouster plot was meant to push Duterte to declare martial law nationwide.
“Ang nakikita namin (What we are seeing) is the President being dragged to declare martial law nationwide, [and] most probably a revolutionary government,” Galvez said at a Senate hearing on the budget of the Department of National Defense. /ee
READ: No coalition between Reds, opposition to oust Duterte — AFP
READ: ‘Red October’ aims to force Duterte to declare martial law – AFP
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