MANILA — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said law enforcement officials are taking seriously reports of threats to the life of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“We take and consider all the threats against the life of the President seriously,” Albayalde told reporters Wednesday, adding that they do not dismiss the supposed threats whether foreign or domestic.
Albayalde described as inaccurate the reports claiming that the PNP sees no threat to the President.
“(I want) to debunk some inaccurate reports sourced from some misquoted information attributed to me as having issued statements to the effect that there is no threat on the life of the president. For good measure we take the security concerns of the president very seriously .We always assume that there is a continuing threat on the life of the President as we are taking it seriously because there is always that possibility that some interest groups may want him out of their way including the underground communist movement, local terrorist organizations and even foreign entities,” Albayalde said .
The PNP chief said all reported threats on Duterte’s life should be taken seriously especially that information came from the President himself.
“We cannot all say that these are all fictitious. These are all raw intelligence information that needs to be validated,” he added.
Albayalde reiterated that at the onset of the government’s war on drugs, there had already been reports of drug lords offering an assassination contract worth PHP100 million for the President and former PNP chief and now Bureau of Corrections Director Ronald dela Rosa.
“I honestly believe that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police can adequately protect the president against anyone who wish him harm,” Albayalde added.