MANILA - Malacañang on Monday maintained that President Rodrigo Duterte had basis in claiming that his political enemies were plotting to oust him.

Duterte on Saturday urged the public to watch out for his critics' supposed move to oust him, which he said will "go into a high gear" in October.

The President bared his claim after he and his government have drawn flak over the revocation of the amnesty granted to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte’s claim was not unfounded as the chief executive has access to information which may have led him to conclude that his enemies were out to overthrow him.

“Kapag nagsalita ang Presidenteng ganyan, meron pong basehan; at sa akin naman po, hindi makakaila na talagang iyong mga kalaban ng Presidente ay mga hindi maka-antay ng susunod na eleksyon, para makabalik sa kapangyarihan ‘no,” Roque told dzRH.

(If the President says such a thing, there must be basis to it. And it cannot be denied that the President’s opponents cannot wait for the next elections to return to power.)

The Liberal Party has rejected Duterte's claim that it was plotting to remove him from office with the help of communist rebels and Trillanes.

• 'Ridiculous': LP rejects Duterte's destab accusation

"The accusation of destabilization is downright false. It is ridiculous. Dissent is not destabilization," Senator Francis Pangilinan, president of the LP, said in a statement.

"Every time scandals and controversies hound this administration, whether it be corruption issues or issues of incompetent governance, it blames the opposition."

The opposition, he said, does not have to do anything because the government "is doing a good job of destabilizing itself" through its supposed incompetence or corruption.

Pangilinan said the government should focus on rising prices of goods and lack of jobs instead of lobbing "baseless" accusations against critics.

Trillanes, for his part, said Duterte's claim of a plot to remove him from office was a product of paranoia.