By Macon Araneta | FilAm Star Correspondent
Addressing Filipinos living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam, Duterte said that the CIA was planning to kill him.
“That’s the situation. They said, the CIA is planning to kill me. Susmaryosep, ginoo,” Duterte said.
A firearms smuggling suspect, Wilford Palma, who was arrested in August, said earlier this month that they sold gun parts to a top client who claimed they would be used to kill President Duterte.
Palma and Brian Taala were arrested on August 6 for allegedly trying to sneak PHP 4.5 million worth of smuggled gun parts from the U.S. to Bacolod.
When asked for comment, U.S. Embassy Press Attaché Molly Koscina said, “We would want to refer you to President Duterte for clarification on his statement.”
Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco disclosed that the Liberal Party is plotting with unidentified businessmen to oust Duterte.
“They are convincing the military and police, (particularly) Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, to join in their cause to topple Duterte,” said Evasco, adding that any plan to oust Duterte will fail.
Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo supported Evasco’s assertion that attempt to remove Duterte from the Palace will not succeed because he has the overwhelming support of the people.
Evasco said businessmen associated with the Liberal Party can’t accept that they were defeated by somebody from Mindanao.
“That’s because they look down on us. They did not know that our minds were molded by our experiences, our studies, and our outlook of life that the elite don’t have.”
Evasco said the businessmen are paying off media men to play up the issues of summary and extra-judicial killings and the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos to encourage people to oppose the Duterte administration.
“Sad to say, there are a lot of media practitioners who succumbed to the temptation of money. And we are talking of millions of pesos here,” he said.
The President earlier accused forces loyal to former President Benigno Aquino III of fanning intrigues against him by blaming him for the killings of nearly 3,000 people in his tough campaign on illegal drugs.He referred to “yellow” people whom he did not name who are allegedly laying the groundwork for Duterte’s impeachment but he said he will press on because he was ready to lose his life, honor and the presidency.
He began his remarks after the swearing in of dozens of new government bureaucrats by calling American leaders “hypocrites” for meddling in his war against crime.
“It was good they did it because it was an opportunity for Duterte to enunciate his independent foreign policy,” Evasco said, adding that the President’s rivals are now saying that Duterte is a communist enticing “armed adventurism.”
“By being rich, America or the European Union or the UN, have no right to tell us what is good for us. In pursuing an independent foreign policy, you must be a friend to everybody. And if the President is resisting the bullying of our supposed friend, the United States, it doesn’t mean we are already aligning with China or Russia,” he added.
