MALACAÑANG on Tuesday shrugged off report that former United States (US) Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg allegedly outlined a list of “strategies” to destabilize President Rodrigo Duterte and eventually remove him from office.
Speaking to reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella was confident that any ouster plot against the President would not thrive because he gets an overwhelming trust of the Filipino people.
“As we can see, you know, the President continues to enjoy the trust of the people. People on the ground apparently appreciate what he’s doing,” Abella said.
“So again, let me just say, according to the article, whoever attempts this will find it difficult,” he added.
Duterte earlier called Goldberg “gay” after criticizing him over his joke during the campaign about the 1989 rape of an Australian missionary.
In an exclusive report by newspaper Manila Times, Goldberg allegedly left behind a “blueprint to undermine Duterte.”
It was allegedly a “strategic” recommendation to the State Department to remove Duterte from office in merely one-and-a-half years.
Goldberg, according to the article, allegedly said that “political actors (the opposition) would need all the political weapons in their arsenal to replace the Duterte administration and replace it with something more to the opposition’s liking.”
He, however, stressed that ousting Duterte “would be a challenge for the opposition.”
The report also said that the Goldberg plot allegedly urged the US government to employ a combination of “socio-economic-political-diplomatic moves against Duterte to bring him to his knees and eventually remove him from office.”
But Abella said the US State Department had already denied that it was planning to depose Duterte.
“We have not received any news from the State Department apparently. As far as I know, as far as I’ve been informed, the State Department has denied any ending of this sort and has denied participation of anything of this sort,” the presidential spokesperson said. (Sunnex)