THE police in Central Visayas are monitoring the communist movements following latest reports about the insurgents' plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte next month.

Superintendent Reyman Tolentin, the Police Regional (PRO)-Central Visayas spokesperson, said on Monday, September 24, that the threat still exists as communist party founder Jose Maria Sison is still alive and can mobilize left-leaning organizations.

Top officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have announced the ouster plot over the weekend, linking the political opposition to the communist rebels in an effort to overthrow the Duterte administration.

"Kanang plano sa pag-oust sa presidente, it's still there. But I believe our security forces are on top of it," Tolentin told reporters yesterday.

"Our intelligence people are monitoring." Tolentin assured the public that there is no recruitment among the ranks of junior police officers to join in the alleged movement to unseat the President.

"We, the junior officers, are satisfied and very happy with the leadership of our President," he said.

The Movement Against Tyranny, in a statement posted on its Facebook page, criticized the pronouncement of Gen. Carlito Galvez, AFP chief of staff, and Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade, deputy chief of staff for operations.

The group labeled the officials' claims as "red-baiting," which according to International Peace Observers Network as "the practice of (mostly) state actors to publicly and detractively classify government-critical individuals and organisations as state enemies, communist terrorists or members of communist front organisations with the purpose of overthrowing the democratically legitimized state authority." (KAL)