President Duterte on Monday, April 19, said there was no point of working together with the military if some officers planned to withdraw support to him.
In his pre-recorded public address to the nation, Duterte admitted he was discouraged when he learned about the alleged plans to withdraw support from his administration.
“In a command conference, I was so—talagang downhearted ako (I was really downhearted) because I expected the military to perform well,” he said.
The Chief Executive was referring to the command conference with the heads of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), after which Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana submitted to him a document “full of foolery.”
Anytime that Lorenzana and other generals tell him that it’s time for him to go, Duterte said he would step down and go home to Davao City.
”Iyong sinabi ko, ako nandito ako kasi na—pagka akala ko makatulong ako sa bayan, sa Pilipinas (What I said, I’m here because I thought I could be of help to the nation, to the Philippines),” he said.
“If we cannot work together with just buy medicines, then maybe we cannot work together on bigger things. So what’s the point?” the President added.
“Sinabi ko talaga sa kanila (I told them): I do not work where I am not needed. And then kayo na mag-explain, explain to the Filipino people bakit ganoon (you explain to the Filipino why it happened),” he said.
Last week, reports that a Viber group thread consisting of active and retired military officials exists supposedly to withdraw their support from the Chief Executive.
One of the contentions is that the officials are dismayed over the President’s weak stance against Beijing over incursions into the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Lorenzana and Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, the Armed Forces chief of staff, denied that they are a part of the Viber group.
But reports on the existence of the thread persist and Duterte himself hinted that he was shown some of what was written there.
“Ayaw ko na sabihin kung anong ginawa ninyo --- anong ginawa ko para sa inyo (I don’t want anymore to tell what I did for you—what I did for you all). Many things that I did for the Armed Forces. Ayaw ko na lang mag-ano baka sabihin na hindi ko naman property, hindi ko naman pera (I just don’t want to say anything since they’ll tell me it’s not my property, not my money).”