MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines or its major service commands are yet to issue any statement on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s warnings of alleged “uneasiness” among the ranks of the AFPs and police allegedly because of recent political developments in the House of Representatives.
AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. had earlier asked not to talk about the alleged destabilization or coup after he himself revealed that there is unrest among military personnel when he spoke to troops of the Western Mindanao Command on Nov. 3.
The military later claimed that the AFP chief was only misquoted or his statements were taken out of context when he said that “many were saying to change the President because of many reasons, some are saying there will be coup d’état again.”
National Security Adviser Eduardo Año assured the public that there was no destabilization plot against the Marcos administration and that Brawner was misinterpreted.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. has already warned against any attempts to destabilize President Marcos’ administration, emphasizing that such actions would be detrimental to the country.
Acorda said that he, along with the general public, does not perceive any issues warranting the demoralization of the uniformed service or justifying efforts to overthrow the current government and that those contemplating such moves should consider working within the existing system instead.
However, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV believes that there are destabilization moves and claimed that Duterte himself is involved.
“But at this point in time, I think it is clear that some of them want to go back to power. By any means if you’re talking about Duterte and GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo), GMA has done it with (former) president Erap (Joseph Estrada),” he said in Filipino in an interview on “The Chiefs” on Nov. 11.
Trillanes said that Duterte has all the motive, resources and opportunity to destabilize the Marcos government.
Duterte has repeatedly denied involvement in any destabilization or coup plot but is now warning the public to “keep an eye” on the AFP and PNP, believing that the emerging alliance between Speaker Martin Romualdez and ACT-Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro is causing uneasiness among the ranks of uniformed personnel.
“Watch the military and the police closely. You who are conniving in Congress. I am not scaring you, but watch the military and the police closely,” he said in his “Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa” program on SMNI. — Mark Ernest Villeza