Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was accused of rebellion, just because he opposed the authorities' bottomless pro-American, Duterte responded in person, hinting that the authorities were suppressing the pro-China faction, and the US media clamored that "the rift between the two factions in the Philippines has deepened or a coup d'état."
The US media "Bloomberg" reported on January 8 that the contradictions between the two major political families in the Philippines are becoming increasingly fierce, and rumors that Duterte is trying to launch a coup are rampant, and opponents say that Duterte is inciting the Philippine army to launch a coup.
A former Philippine senator accused Duterte of frequently meeting with some senior military officers and important leaders of the police system, and there must be some shady plans, including subverting the regime through violent means and destroying the freedom and democracy of the Philippines. That's all. ”
He then turned geared on his readiness to meet with incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos and asked why rumors of a coup d'état were circulating, as if to suggest that the authorities were the authors of the rumors.
It is worth mentioning that in the process of spreading the coup d'état, not only some Philippine domestic media are reporting, but also the American media has played a more important role, and under the high-intensity information bombardment and hype of dozens of American media, this news has occupied the headlines of the Philippine news section in a very short period of time, and they have created an atmosphere in which the contradictions between the two factions in the Philippines have intensified, civil war is imminent, and the pro-American or pro-China debate has torn apart the country and divided everyone into two factions.
But many people have also questioned this news, because this rumor is too illogical, even if Duterte's personal wishes are put aside, the Philippine military is not the main supporter of Duterte, of course, the senior leaders of the Philippine military also have some positions that support Duterte's neutrality and are pro-China, but this is a very small minority.
As a former colony of the United States, the core power of the Philippines has actually been controlled by the United States for a long time after it gained nominal independence, specifically, the Philippine police system, judicial system and military administration system have been controlled by the United States for a long time.
The U.S. monopoly on Philippine state power was not loosened until 2016, and the first to begin to clearly support Duterte was the police system, which was the basis for his "war on drugs", but until Duterte left the presidency, he was unable to effectively control the military, and in the second half of Duterte's term, there were many incidents in which the Philippine Navy acted unilaterally without any instructions from the government and had friction with the Chinese Coast Guard in the South China Sea.
After the change of president of the Philippines, we can also see that the Philippine military has performed very positively in the previous friction incidents in the South China Sea, the Americans want to conduct joint military exercises in the South China Sea, and the American warships have not yet gone to sea, and the Philippine warships have already entered the South China Sea one step ahead and met with the PLA Navy that came to monitor. Marcos' repeated provocations in the South China Sea have angered China.
As Duterte himself said: "Who will believe me? What kind of police officer or officer will come crazy to see me?" Even if the police system still has some influence, but the military has never listened to Duterte, even if he really wants a coup, he can only rely on the police system instead of the military system, but the current President Marcos, who has no bottom line and is pro-American, can really command the army, and military power is undoubtedly the most important guarantee for the coup.
Therefore, Duterte, regardless of his subjective will, is actually capable of carrying out a coup d'état, but he has to live in the shadows in constant fear, constantly worrying about the possibility of political liquidation by the authorities.
Duterte said that "he did not see any major mistakes, abuse of power or corruption, and he did not look for a replacement for Marcos" and "there is no serious corruption problem, as long as the people's money is not abused, the government will not be overthrown by the people" He said that there was no major mistake on the part of the authorities, but nine out of ten of the voices criticizing the authorities in the Philippines came from his own mouth, and such a statement was nothing more than an admission of cowardice, and he could not provoke Marcos or the United States.
Of course, we can't blame the Philippines for this, Marcos has the United States behind him, Duterte has nothing behind him, the pro-China faction in the Philippines is essentially a tree without roots, without external support, in 2021, US Secretary of Defense Austin went to the Philippines for a "visit" escorted by a whole squadron of fighter jets At the time of this naked threat of troops, no one supported Duterte, and not many media even dared to mention it, and today's pro-American faction in the Philippines is only the result of inaction in the past six or seven years.
In fact, the Philippine authorities' systematic purge of the pro-China faction is likely to have taken place, and Duterte's close friends in the Philippines operated social and news media were shut down by the Philippine authorities shortly before, and Duterte himself has frequently appeared through this platform and often expressed some opinions on the authorities' policies, especially he has repeatedly criticized Marcos's diplomatic strategy, believing that the Marcos authorities have no bottom line to be pro-American, and too much contempt for Philippine-Chinese relations will damage Philippine national interests。
This is clearly something that the Philippine authorities and the United States behind them cannot tolerate, and the threat of political cleansing against Duterte has already appeared several times, and now the rumors that he is going to carry out a coup d'état are just another more blatant threat. This means that it doesn't matter whether Duterte has a coup plan or not, anyway, as long as you are arrested and put in prison, you can't refute the accusations, and Marcos, who has mastered the military system and has the backing of the United States, is fully capable of purging the pro-China faction in the Philippines, just like Duterte fought the war on drugs a few years ago.