Palace calls Reds ‘pathetic’ over alleged CIA plot to oust Duterte

(Ruth Abbey Gita/ SunStar Philipp i n e s) MALACAÑANG

on Thursday brushed aside the communists' allegation that the United States (US) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are is plotting to overthrow President Rodrigo Duterte.

Speaking to Palace reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said it was “pathetic” for the communist group to spread “baseless” claim about CIA’s plan to remove Duterte from power.

"The rumors of attempts to overthrow the President have been around from day one. However, this latest twist where they include themselves is an insertion of themselves into the plot. It’s rather pathetic,” Abella said. “There’s no basis for that,” he added. On Tuesday, the communist party’s political wing, the National Democratic Front (NDF), revealed that the CIA and the AFP “are engaged in a two-stage plot” to kill communist leader Jose Maria Sison and oust Duterte.

The NDF said the first stage of the plot is to send a hit team to The Netherlands to assassinate Sison while the second stage is to overthrow Dut er t e.

The group said the plot against Duterte stemmed after he “collaborated with the communist party and the NPA (New People’s Army) for decades, betrayed the alliance with the US and veered towards China and Russia.”

It added that the CIA and the Philippine troops came up with such plan after Duterte “subverted the professional standards of the military and police forces, corrupted and criminalized them in the commission of extra-judicial killings, and failed to solve the problem of illegal drugs.”

AFP spokesperson Brigadier General Restituto Padilla Jr. denied Tuesday the NDF’s allegation.

“Not true at all,” Padilla said. “This is once again a propaganda in line of the Left to gain sympathy and toe the anti-US line that they usually take. Again, this is a preposterous statement.” (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo/ SunStar Philippines)