Palace says calls to oust Duterte from office won’t thrive

In an interview with dzIQ, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo reiterated that removing Duterte from office is a mere “wishful thinking.” (File Photo: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson/Facebook)

MANILA – Malacañang on Sunday said it already expects that the call for President Rodrigo Duterte’s ouster will not thrive.

In an interview with dzIQ, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo reiterated that removing Duterte from office is a mere “wishful thinking.”

He also taunted the number of protesters who gathered at the People Power Monument in Quezon City on Saturday afternoon and demanded for Duterte’s resignation.

“Wala pang 100 yata ang dumating. ‘Yun ang sinasabi ko. Pipe dream lang yun (Less than 100 protesters, perhaps, attended the rally. That’s what I’m saying. It’s just a pipe dream). It’s a wishful thinking. Iyan ang statement we have to make. Wala yun (That’s the statement we have to make. It’s nothing),” Panelo said.

Members of Oust Duterte Movement, Kilusan Kontra China, Bunyog, and Confederation against Federalism reportedly flocked to the People Power Monument on Saturday to express their anger at Duterte.

The Quezon City Police District estimated that the crowd at the monument was only around 100.

The protesters flashed their placards with a call saying, “Duterte, resign now!”

Panelo said Duterte’s critics always wanted to unseat the President but never succeeded.

“They can always try. Wala. Hanggang doon na lang sila (But it does not flourish. That’s what they can only do),” he said.

Calls for Duterte’s resignation came just three days before the anniversary of the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution on February 25 that ousted the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

Last week, communist founder Jose Maria Sison claimed that there was also an attempt from some officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to stage a coup d’etat against Duterte following the Philippines’ termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States.

Sison alleged that the coup plotters are AFP officials who served as “assets” of the US Defense Intelligence Agency and Central Intelligence Agency and are “loyal to their pocketbooks rather than to the Filipino people.”

AFP chief-of-staff, Gen. Felimon Santos Jr. already dismissed rumors that some military officers have expressed opposition to the abrogation of VFA.