Andanar sticks to destabilizaton claim in speech at Luneta

Thousands of supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte gathered at the Quirino Grandstand on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017. (Photo by RICHARD REYES/Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar doubled down on his claim of the existence of a destabilization plot against the Duterte administration, despite repeated assurances of the country’s top security officials that there was no such credible plot,

Andanar repeated his claim during the gathering of thousands of Duterte supporters at Quirino Grandstand on Saturday night.

In a three-minute speech, he stressed that the gathering organized by the Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte-National Executive Coordinating Committee (MRRD-NECC) was meant to show the world that they would “want to defend democracy and freedom” in the country.

“I supposed you have heard talks about [a] destabilization [plot]. Do you want that destabilization [plot] to happen?” Andanar asked the crowd in Filipino, drawing a loud response of “no.”

He added that the gathering, dubbed “People’s support on Duterte’s war against illegal drugs, corruption, criminality and poverty,” is proof that they “respect the Constitution and the mandate of the President.”

Earlier, national security adviser Hermogenes Esperon and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had repeatedly shot down claims of a destabilization plot against the administration.

Last week, Inquirer reporter Marlon Ramos drew Andanar’s ire for seeking to clarify Andanar’s statements that there was indeed a plan to unseat Duterte.

Meanwhile, staunch Duterte supporter Sandra Cam belittled the number of people who attended the Edsa commemoration at the People Power Monument.

“Since you’re just 1,000 there, stop discrediting this administration because our country now has an opportunity to achieve genuine change that is not only for the rich but for every Filipino,” Cam, who lost in her senatorial bid in the 2016 elections, told the Inquirer.

But Greco Belgica, another losing senatorial candidate and Duterte supporter, was more conciliatory.

“We can be yellow, we can be red. But we are all Filipinos,” he said in an interview. “I hope we can all work together to build a better nation for our children.”

As of 9:00 p.m., the Manila Police District estimated that the crowd at Quirino Grandstand was around 215,000.

In stressing the public’s support to the administration, Guiling Mamondiong , MRRD-NECC national chair and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general, claimed that “90 percent” of the 106 million Filipinos back Duterte.

The Philippines, however, only has a population of a little over 103 million, according to www.worldometers.info, which displays live data based on estimates of the United Nations Population Divsion.

And the latest Social Weather Stations survey showed that the President enjoys an approval and trust rating of 83 percent. /atm