MANILA, Philippines – A day after a rally calling for President Benigno Aquino III’s resignation, Malacañang said the small number of protesters show he is still trusted by the people.

“I think the significance of the number of people who attended yesterday’s gathering is a significant manifestation of the support of the people to the President,” Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said on Monday, February 23.

Lacierda also said President Aquino is not bothered by the rally.

“The President takes all things in stride. What happened yesterday was significant for us. Those who are asking for the President’s resignation didn’t gather more than… Based on newspaper accounts, they gathered around 850 to a thousand despite the publicity,” he said.

Lacierda added: “The President has done so much for the country. The President has lifted us – the economic well-being of our country from its previous past. The President has made a number of significant reforms – both in governance as well as in economy – and continues to do so. And people see that and realize that.”

A group led by the President’s maternal uncle, Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr staged an anti-Aquino rally on Sunday, February 22, at the EDSA Shrine, a monument to remember the People Power Revolution in 1986 that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos and catapulted the President’s mother, Corazon, to power.

Calls for Aquino to step down were triggered by a January 25 operation in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao.

During the operation, some 392 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos entered Mamasapano town, a known bailiwick of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and its breakaway group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), to serve arrest warrants to top terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir, or Marwan and Abdul Basit Usman.

The operation resulted in a bloody clash between SAF troopers and rebel forces that claimed at least 65 lives, including 44 SAF troopers. The MILF blames this on the SAF team’s failure to coordinate with them, as provided in its agreement with the government on operations in known MILF territories.

Since the incident, various sectors have asked Aquino to resign, frustrated by his handling of the event. Further dissatisfaction stems from confusion over Aquino’s role in the operation.

Separate investigations – including one by the Board of Inquiry (BOI) and probes in the House of Representatives and the Senate – are seeking to determine what went wrong in the operation.

Malacañang has said however, that the President has no plans of resigning. – Rappler.com