Low attendance at little-known groups' anti-Duterte rally shows ouster a 'pipe dream,' Palace says
MANILA, Philippines — Poor attendance at an anti-Duterte rally in Quezon City on Saturday proved that efforts to oust the president is just "wishful thinking," Malacañang said Sunday.
Various groups gathered at the People Power Monument last Saturday to demand the resignation of President Rodrigo Duterte, whom they accused of being subservient to China.
Rally organizers composed of members of the Kilusan Kontra Tsina, Oust Duterte Movement, Bunyog, and Coalition against Federalism in the Philippines had aimed to attract 1,000 people to join the protest. Organizers claimed 400 people joined the rally but the police said only about a hundred were at the monument as of 3 p.m.
The groups, which are not among the more established activist groups, have a small presence on Facebook.
Bunyog, for example, has 4,718 members in its private Facebook group. CAFP has 11,349. An Oust Duterte page on Facebook has just 2,134 followers while another called Oust Duterte Movement has just 1,852.
"O nilangaw di ba? Wala pa daw isang daan yata dumating. Yan nga sinasabi ko, pipe dream lang yun (The attendance was poor right? They said the number of people who participated did not even reach a hundred. That's what I have been saying. It's just a pipe dream). It's wishful thinking," presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a radio interview.
"Wala yun (It's nothing). They can always try. Wala, ganito na lang sila (They won't go beyond that)," he added.
The rally was held days before the 34th anniversary of the 1987 EDSA People Power Revolution, which led to the ouster of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Panelo had said Duterte, a political ally of the Marcoses, may skip the event anew.
Asked why Duterte has not attended the EDSA Revolution anniversaries since becoming president in 2016, Panelo replied: "Eh kung ayaw niyang umattend bakit natin pipilitin (If he does not want to attend, why would we force him)?"
"I will ask him what is his reason for doing so," he added.
In 2016, Duterte drew flak for allowing the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani but the president argued that the late strongman deserves to be interred in the heroes' cemetery as a former lawmaker and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
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