VP Sara Duterte: No destabilization plot vs Marcos

Ferdinand Marcos Jr. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ SaraDuterte —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Vice President Sara Duterte has denied that the protest rallies staged against President Marcos, mostly conducted by her supporters, were part of a destabilization plot against the Marcos administration. Duterte, who once criticized and downplayed the roles of protest rallies, said the protests staged against the President were part of freedom of speech and expression. “Even if the people decide to rally every day along Edsa, that’s not destabilization. It’s freedom of speech and expression,” Duterte told reporters. She questioned why the administration would describe the rallies as part of a destabilization plot, as she also insisted that there were no calls to oust the President. “What I’m seeing are groups who are asking him to resign,” Duterte said. The Vice President then insisted that there were no calls, as far as she is concerned, to oust Marcos from power, nor to destabilize the government. She also said that the administration may have just been “scared” and that floating allegations of a destabilization plot were rooted from the government’s “insecurity.” —DEMPSEY REYES