The usual critics of President Rody Duterte tried to desecrate the annual observance of Independence Day at the Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit, Cavite that Rody turned to his advantage by stressing that free speech is guaranteed under his administration.

“Let it be. It is freedom of speech, you can have it. I will understand….Never mind, it’s not everyone,” Rody said.

He added the Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and free expression.

“I will just advise the law enforcement to just deal with them peacefully and (with) maximum tolerance. We cannot agree at all times for all seasons. We may not understand each other, but at least there is a common denominator: We love our country.”

In the usual tag team of critics and yellow media, a newspaper identified with the previous regime then reported that the police roughed up the protesters after hauling them away from the event.

The obvious aim was to paint Rody as a “threat to democracy,” which is the usual bum rap, on the day marking the country’s freedom.

Not so says a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that showed majority of Filipinos satisfied on democracy under Rody and with a majority stating that it is preferable to any other kind of government.

The survey taken in the first quarter showed 78 percent or four out of five Filipinos are satisfied with the way democracy works in the country.

What was notable in the survey was that the number was almost the same, at 79 percebt in June, 2016 when President Noynoy Aquino exited.

It also showed that 60 percent of respondents prefer democracy over any other kind of government.

Only 19 percent agreed to the statement “under some circumstances, an authoritarian government can be preferable to a democratic one,” while 21 percent acknowledged “it does not matter whether we have a democratic or a non-democratic regime.”

Going back to the heckling incident, it appeared that the protesters were after media exposure rather than ventilating their grievance in the aim of generating more subsidies from rights groups, particularly from European countries.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said in a social media post that the same group popped up last year when he was guest speaker in Kawit, Cavite during the same Independence Day anniversary.

“My speech was disrupted by the same group of 10 to 15 protesters who shouted the same anti-government slogans. The only difference is that unlike last year, they made news now because PRRD was GOH [guest of honor],” Lacson tweeted.

Considering their gripes, the group has been mouthing the “fascist” and “traitor” slogans since the Marcos regime some 50 years ago which speaks of their lack of creativity.

Also logic went against the protesters since Duterte had made clear that he will not kowtow to the United States and that he will cultivate relationships with non-traditional partners such as Russia and China through his independent foreign policy.

It follows that since the critics are against the policies of Duterte, they are pursuing the reverse which is the country’s dealing exclusively with the United States for its foreign policy similar to that practiced in the previous administration.

The real threat to democracy is the attempt to destabilize the democratically elected Rody and the proponents of such moves who seize every opportunity to weaken the current administration as part of a grand political design to retake power.

Left-leaning groups and the yellows appear to have re-formed an alliance that was responsible for the extra-constitutional People Power takeovers in 1986 and 2001.

The survey results, nonetheless, showed that democracy is at work and his critics are pathetically nitpicking.