MANILA - Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday tagged the Liberal Party and its allies as behind a "coordinated" effort to discredit the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Cayetano questioned how an impeachment complaint was filed against the President soon after a video criticizing the government's war on drugs was played during a United Nations meeting.
"Sabay-sabay na lumabas yan kahapon... Hindi aksidente yan," Cayetano said in an interview with DZMM.
(It all happened at the same time yesterday... It's no accident.)
"Hindi ko nilalahat-lahat ng Liberal Party pero yung ilan na involved, coordinated po yan," Cayetano added.
(I am not talking about the entire Liberal Party, but about some who are involved. It's coordinated.)
Cayetano, Duterte's running mate in the 2016 elections, said Vice President Leni Robredo's criticism of the president was on the "level" that she wants him removed from office.
"I've never said that she's part of it... But yung level na pagiging kritikal niya sa pangulo ay nasa level na gusto din niyang matanggal ang pangulo," he said.
(The level of her being critical is on the level that she wants the president removed.)
Cayetano said that from his foreign trips, he gathered that "allies" of the "past administration" were uneasy over Duterte's shift to China and Russia.