PNP: No plot to overthrow Marcos admin

FILE PHOTO: PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo answers questions from reporters after a media briefing in Camp Crame, Quezon City, in this file photo on April 25, 2023. Fajardo said on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, that the PNP had not monitored any plot to bring down the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. INQUIRER.net /Faith Argosino

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday said it has not monitored any plot to bring down the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said morale is high within their ranks as they remain focused on its mandate to protect the people.

“On the part of the PNP wala po tayong namomonitor na any destabilization plot or even kudeta,” Fajardo said in a press briefing in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

(On the part of the PNP, we are not monitoring any destabilization plot or even coup.)

READ: PNP chief Acorda tells ranks: Ignore ‘political noise’

Fajardo’s remark came after former president Rodrigo Duterte warned Marcos over the weekend that the incumbent president might meet the same fate as his father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986.

The Dutertes staged a rally in their hometown, Davao City, on Sunday, January 28, against Charter change, the political agenda being pushed by the President’s congressional allies to amend the 1987 Constitution. The event was timed with the “Bagong Pilipinas” rally in Manila led by Marcos.

During the rally, Duterte called Marcos “a drug addict president.” He even claimed that Marcos used to be on the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) watch list. But PDEA denied this.

READ: ‘It’s the fentanyl,’ Marcos says after former president Duterte tags him ‘drug addict’

In the same rally, Duterte’s son, Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, called for Marcos’ resignation, describing the President as “lazy and [lacking in] compassion.”

In an ambush interview the next day, Marcos said his predecessor’s dependence on the analgesic drug fentanyl must be “affect[ing]” him by now.

“I think it’s the fentanyl” speaking, he said.

“Fentanyl is the strongest pain killer that you can buy,” Marcos also said. “It is highly addictive, and it has very serious side effects. And PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) has been taking the drug for a very long time now. When was the last time he told us that he was taking fentanyl? [About] five, six years ago, something like that. After five, six years, it has to affect [him]. [That’s why he’s like that.] I hope his doctors take better care of him.”

Duterte previously admitted that he had been taking the drug due to pain in his spine caused by a motorcycle accident years ago.