DILG to probe Marcos ouster calls
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Monday said it would investigate remarks at a protest rally on Sunday by the United People’s Initiative (UPI) calling for the ouster of President Marcos, while Malacañang said it was monitoring these “very small” groups.
Several speakers at the UPI rally held at the People Power Monument in Quezon City called on the President to resign or the Armed Forces of the Philippines to withdraw support from Mr. Marcos, their Commander in Chief.
Another rally in Manila led by supporters of the Duterte family also called for the resignation of Mr. Marcos, whose constitutional successor is Vice President Sara Duterte.
When asked about calls made during the rally at the People Power Monument, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla said: “That’s close to inciting to sedition, so we will investigate them. Those remarks have no place in a civil society.”
“We will go for truth, accountability and justice and go through the due process, whoever needs to be [held accountable],” he told reporters.
Remulla also pointed out that “with the freedom of expression comes a sense of responsibility. An act of sedition is dangerous to the state.”
The Quezon City Police District also said it would look into the statements made at the UPI rally.
‘Intention to destabilize’
For Communications Secretary Dave Gomez, the groups calling for the President’s ouster are the same ones bearing the brunt of his anticorruption campaign.
“First of all, the President himself exposed this [corruption scandal]. So isn’t it obvious that the ones who want him ousted are those who would be affected?” he said in an interview with dzMM.
“Any administration or any government would be extremely remiss and negligent if it did not monitor any destabilization efforts against it,” Gomez said. “So yes, we are monitoring groups and personalities whose only intention is to destabilize the government and bring down the duly constituted, duly elected government through extra constitutional means.”
