Many kababayans in the Philippines and here in the United States have been asking me about the truth behind #LeniLeaks — a trending topic on social media that talks about the alleged plot by supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo to oust President Rodrigo Duterte by discrediting both the Philippine president, as well as former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, who lost to Robredo in the VP race.
Front and center of the allegations are Filipino-American community leaders Loida Nicolas Lewis, her sister and former Commission on Filipinos Overseas Chair Imelda Nicolas, and Atty. Ted Laguatan.
As Balitang America reported, the #LeniLeaks topic trended on social media platforms all over the world because of the alleged involvement of people from the office of VP Robredo. In a Yahoo Groups page called “Global Filipino Diaspora Council,” Lewis, Laguatan, Nicolas, and the members of the page were reportedly exchanging messages that talk about mass protests calling for Duterte’s resignation and how to counteract controversies against Robredo.
Philippine Communication Secretary Martin Andanar, reveals that Malacañang is taking this matter seriously, and that no less than National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon along with online forensics experts are looking into the matter. They also want to ascertain if Robredo was part of the online exchanges in the aforementioned Yahoo group discussion board.
Robredo denies accusations against her and categorically stated that she is not part of any attempt to oust Duterte. She also clarifies that she has not met lately with Loida Nicolas Lewis as alleged and that the last time they talked was during the campaign season.
In many interviews, the vice president has said that she will continue to call out Duterte for issues like the extrajudicial killings, human rights violations, and respect for women. However, she will fully support the president for causes they agree on.
Fil-Am community leader Loida Nicolas Lewis reiterated her previous statement that she is not plotting any overthrow of Duterte, but has just been calling on the president to resign based on his campaign promise that if he does not solve the drug menace after six months in office, then he would step down.
Lewis contends that she follows the rule of law, and that publicly and openly calling for Duterte to resign is part of the legal process, which also mandates that if and when the president resigns or becomes incapacitated to fulfill his/her job, the elected VP takes over the highest office.
Duterte’s followers allege that talking about the president’s resignation, criticizing him and not giving him the support but instead protesting against his policies may be deemed as an act of sedition as it may incite the public to rebel against his lawful authority.
On the other hand, critics of Duterte contend that the Yahoo group, which has been formed in 2011 as a discussion board on how to help the Philippines in its fight against China’s bullying and other issues that beset the nation, was merely exercising the constitutional right to free speech. The group’s members argue that criticizing Duterte’s drug policy and calling for his resignation based on what he promised is exercising their free speech.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Do criticisms of Duterte’s policy and the call for his resignation serve an act of sedition OR an exercise of free speech in a democracy?
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
