Malacañang on Sunday dismissed the claim of detained Senator Leila de Lima that President Rodrigo Duterte had a “malevolent” plan to oust Vice President Leni Robredo to allow former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to take his seat should he step down from the presidency.
“[That is] prison hallucination. [The] fate of the VP hangs with the [Supreme Court] and not [with] the President,” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque told reporters in a text message.
He said Duterte had nothing to do with Marcos’ electoral protest.
De Lima said Sunday Duterte was destroying Robredo’s public image to make it easier for the Filipinos to acknowledge Marcos as his replacement should Marcos win at the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.
“Duterte has several ideas how he will be replaced in case he decides to step down before his term ends,” De Lima said in a statement issued from her cell in Camp Crame.
“He has expressed his preference for Bongbong Marcos, Chiz Escudero, a military junta [but] none of them include the constitutional mode of succession, which is the only legal way of replacing him.
“With the federal Charter change campaign dead on the water, and a military junta having no avid takers from the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines], this means that the only viable option remaining is to make sure that Marcos is in a position to succeed as VP when Duterte decides to step down.”
De Lima, one of Duterte’s top critics, said that as the math of the co-opted high court votes improved to favor a Marcos fake victory, so would the Marcos-Robredo PET case unravel to its malevolent conclusion.
“After the Supreme Court has demonstrated its capability to perform the unconstitutional ouster of its own Chief Justice, it can no longer be relied upon to stand as the guardian of the Constitution and the rule of law,” De Lima said.
She urged the public to be vigilant in opposing Duterte’s plan.
“Now, more than ever, citizens must rely on their own organic power to thwart any attempt to undermine constitutional democracy and to foist Duterte’s illegitimate choice of successor upon the Filipino people,” De Lima said.
Asked to comment on De Lima’s 59th birthday on Thursday, the Palace insisted it would not give her birthday wishes.
The Palace has consistently belied De Lima’s statements and told her to spend the rest of her life in jail.
