December 17, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Although his administration is being hounded by political controversies, the state of the nation is “quite stable,” President Marcos said yesterday as he dismissed speculations that he is conducting a “loyalty check” among security forces.
“Oh, we’re quite stable. I mean, the government is functioning properly. Although there’s a lot of noise, that’s all it is. It’s all just noise,” the President told reporters in an interview at Malacañang.
Rumors about alleged ouster plots against him surfaced following Vice President Sara Duterte’s falling out with him, his family and the administration. Their conflict has deteriorated into ugly public exchanges.
The rift reached new heights when Duterte, who served as running mate and education secretary of Marcos before the souring of their relations, revealed that she had asked someone to kill the President, First Lady Liza Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez if a supposed assassination plot against her succeeds.
After officials announced that the Vice President could be criminally charged, her father former president Rodrigo Duterte called on the armed forces to “correct” what he called a “fractured government.” His call fell flat, however.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin then assailed the former president for “insulting” the military by asking them to betray their oath and for going to “great and evil lengths” to unseat Marcos and to install his daughter into power.
No loyalty check
During the same interview, Marcos said he only heard about the alleged loyalty checks being conducted within the security forces through the media.
“You have a command conference and then you say, ‘Are you loyal?’ ‘How about you, are you loyal?’… I do not understand the term because I don’t know how you conduct a loyalty check. At least not when you call a command conference,” the President said.
He was reacting to reports linking his recent meetings with military and police officials and personnel to supposed loyalty checks.
“Because in the military, in the police, we don’t have that… I only hear it in the media. I was just wondering… How do you define a loyalty check?” the Chief Executive said.
Marcos later described the question about loyalty checks as “stupid.”
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