Duterte knows what he’s doing: Arroyo

Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo answers questions from the media about the marathon budget deliberations of the House of Representatives. (Photo by Filane Mikee Cervantes/PNA)

MANILA – House of Representatives Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday balked at giving any recommendation to President Rodrigo Duterte in handling the possible destabilization plot against the government, noting that the Chief Executive “knows what he’s doing.”

“The last thing he needs is a comment from the peanut gallery,” she said in an ambush interview during the distribution of assistance to farmers in Nueva Ecija who were affected by the recent typhoon.

Arroyo, who also faced several ouster threats during her nine-year presidency, recalled that Duterte helped her deal with these destabilization attempts.

“Noon ako nga may destabilization, si President Duterte nga ang tumutulong sa akin e (When I also faced destabilization threats back then, President Duterte was the one helping me). Alam niya kung ano ang gagawin niya (He knows what he’s doing), so I wouldn’t want to add to the unsolicited advice to him,” she said.

In an earlier televised tête-à-tête with Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, Duterte said Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s Magdalo and other groups opposing his presidency are in a “loose conspiracy” to overthrow his government.

“They have combined and we have the evidence and we have the conversation provided by a foreign country sympathetic to us,” Duterte said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines also recently confirmed a conspiracy by the CPP-New People’s Army (NPA) and other opposition groups to oust Duterte through the so-called “Red October” plot.