Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday denied that there are plans to destabilize the government, and added that the current inistration is ‘insecure’ from protesting people.
‘There is no destabilization happening. People are just talking. The administration is just insecure, afraid of the power of the people’s voices. But in reality, no one is planning destabilization,’ Duterte said on Filipino in a press briefing.
‘What I noticed is that the word destabilization always comes from the administration because it makes them insecure,’ she added.
She also dismissed the rumors that meetings are being held among groups to shake up the current administration.
She, however, pointed out that if there’s a group that would hold meetings on the issue, it would be the Makabayan bloc.
‘That’s really the vision of Makabayan, to overthrow the government because they want to take over. So if there’s a group that’s meeting to overthrow the administration, it’s Makabayan. There’s no one else,’ she said.
In response, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Chairperson Teodoro Casiño told the Inquirer that calling those demanding accountability in a ‘corrupt system of governance’ as ‘destabilizers’ is ‘the ultimate form of gaslighting.’ Casiño clarified that Makabayan’s aim ‘is not to destabilize the government, but to change it.’
The Makabayan bloc denounces corrupt political dynasties, Casiño added, claiming that the vice president herself may be ‘afraid that people are now looking for alternatives to the bureaucratic capitalist system that she and her family have milked for decades.’
Rumors of destabilization attempts surfaced during the September 21 anti-corruption protest where protestors clashed with the police and allegedly made attempts to storm Malacañang.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines, however, dismissed the rumors. /gsg