Palace insists on LP-CPP-Magdalo collusion to oust Duterte

Malacañang on Thursday insisted that members of the opposition Liberal Party were involved in the so-called “Red October” ouster plot to overthrow the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

This came after Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan called on the Palace to stop dragging the former ruling party into the alleged ouster plot against Duterte especially since the military admitted there was no existing coalition between the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the LP, and Magdalo Party-list.

Pangilinan is the current president of LP.

“I don’t think the military cleared them at all. I think the intelligence report remains. Investigation is ongoing and if we obtain additional evidence then perhaps it could be followed with the filing of cases,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing.

Roque also said they remain confident that no ouster plot against Mr. Duterte would prosper due to the lack of support from the public and state forces.

“We have no doubt that 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,” he said.

Armed Forces Chief General Carlito Galvez Jr., in the budget hearing of the Department of National Defense in the Senate on Tuesday, denied that there is an existing coalition among the groups linked to the Red October ouster plot. It was Mr. Duterte himself who first claimed that the CPP, LP, and Magdalo group were in connivance to oust him.

But Roque maintained there was “no inconsistency” in the statements of the President and Galvez.

“It could be true that there is no formal memorandum of agreement between the party itself and the CPP-NPA, [but] it does not prevent leading personalities with Liberal Party from having such collusion,” he said.  /kga