Rodrigo Duterte President of the Philippines warned those behind a supposed plot to remove him from Malacañang to brace for a bloody fight. "Those talks of ousting me...probably I'll give you a good fight, you'll get a bloody nose," Duterte said in the first of four media interviews, aired over CNN Philippines. Speaking for the first time after The Manila Times report on Tuesday that said former US ambassador Philip Goldberg had left behind a "blueprint" to undermine and eventually oust him over a one-and-a-half year period, the President accused the ex-US envoy and Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo of being involved in efforts to remove him from office. The US State Department has denied that such a blueprint exists. Duterte claimed some US diplomats were really working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and that Goldberg had a history of undermining foreign governments, having been expelled by Bolivia in 2008 for fomenting civil unrest against the government of Evo Morales. "I have some inkling how this guy (Goldberg) works. Most of the American ambassadors are professionals who do spying; they are connected with the CIA, while others have the forte, really, to undermine governments," Duterte said. "He was expelled in Bolivia...there's a Time magazine analysis how the elite of that country hates the native president (Morales)," Duterte said. As for Robredo, Duterte said she was ousted from the Cabinet because she was part of the group of people that protested the burial of former president Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in November, which he claimed was also working for his ouster. "Her ouster from the Cabinet was ‘fait accompli.' The problem is, she is out in the streets [protesting the burial]. The problem is, they are demonstrating, those who are for ousting me," Duterte said. "She's there. She is part of the crowd. She may not be asking for it herself, but she is a part of the crowd that wants me out," he added.
