Robredo denies ‘oust Duterte’ plot

MANILA, Philippines — Former Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte has been criticized for sharing on social media a list of individuals and groups that are allegedly behind a plot to oust his father President Duterte.

The list included Vice President Leni Robredo and other opposition personalities.

Robredo yesterday denied her involvement in the supposed plot as she laughed at the alleged “Oust Duterte Movement” list, which was posted on Paolo’s Facebook account.

The list – which according to reports included church and former government officials, journalists and militant groups – was no longer available yesterday.

“It says there, that all those in the list have been discussing the ouster of the President... that we are destabilizing his government. I looked at the names in the list and I don’t know most of them, the only one I know is Jollibee,” Robredo said.

Opposition-leaning group Tindig Pilipinas, which was included in the list, called Paolo paranoid for sharing what it dubbed as gossips being peddled as intelligence.

“Your inaccuracies are many. You mentioned one person as a member of the Hyatt 10. He isn’t. Then you mentioned one of our members twice. And then you put together groups who have deep ideological divides that they would not work together,” the group said.

Apart from Robredo, other prominent figures in the list included Catholic prelates like Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen, who died weeks before the 2016 elections.

Robredo was listed as the “leader of the united opposition.” 

It also tagged Jollibee Foods Corp. and several other companies as “People’s Organizations/Business Community” involved in the alleged movement.

Robredo said Paolo’s alleged act of spreading of unverified and false information was “irresponsible,” noting he is a former government official.

“It’s very irresponsible to post something which has no basis. I don’t know if he bothered to check where the information came from, because obviously the one who did it didn’t spend time to do research. I hope he is aware that I have not been in these places and that I don’t know the persons in the list,” she said referring to the list.