MANILA – A loyalty check within the military is not necessary because President Rodrigo Duterte is confident that he still has the troops’ support, his spokesperson said.
“Hindi po nababahala ang Presidente. Tapat po siya sa saligang batas. Kampante po siya na walang dahilan para umakto ng ganyan ang ating mga kasundaluhan,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Monday.
Roque dismissed the claims that the troops are withdrawing their support on the President over his alleged soft stance in the West Philippine Sea issue. He said that Duterte is not silent on the presence of Chinese vessels in the country’s territory.
There were reports over the weekend of an alleged Viber group where some soldiers were reportedly withdrawing their support on Duterte due to their dissatisfaction with the President’s silence on Chinese incursions in the Philippine waters.
Defense chief Delfin Lorenzana called the claims as “irresponsible propaganda” created by detractors of the government.
For the Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, they were only meant “to create panic and confusion.”
Roque also asserted that the President is not silent about the issue on the West Philippine Sea. He insisted that the statements of Lorenzana and Foreign Affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. are also the President’s unless he renounces them./PN
