AFP: No attempts to recruit personnel for Aquino ouster

President Benigno Aquino III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Armed Forces of the Philippines has denied that there are any attempts to recruit from its ranks for an ouster plot against President Benigno Aquino III, though it did not dismiss outright the allegations made by a putschist-turned-senator.

“We have no confirmation there is a recruitment ongoing in the AFP. No such thing is happening and that will not happen, I tell you,” AFP spokesperson Colonel Arnulfo Burgos Jr. told reporters Tuesday.

And if indeed there will be an attempt made to recruit in the AFP, “it will not succeed because the organization remains strong and our commanders are really in touch with the troops in the field,” Burgos said.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a former Navy lieutenant who led two military uprisings against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and was granted amnesty last year by the Aquino administration, claimed last Monday that the ouster plot against Aquino was real.

He said some retired military officers, whom he did not identify, have been trying to convince active AFP personnel that the Aquino administration was antimilitary and procommunist.

Burgos said the AFP leadership was taking Trillanes’ claims seriously and has been in touch with him as he was a former military man who “cares for the Armed Forces.”

According to Burgos, troop morale remained high with all the needs of AFP personnel being addressed under the Aquino administration.

He said the President’s support for the military’s long-delayed modernization is “unprecedented.”

He said AFP Chief Lieutenant General Jessie Dellosa was in constant communication with field commanders while ground commanders are closely in touch with troops in the frontlines.

Military loyalty

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Tuesday said Malacañang was unperturbed by the coup rumors and was “100 percent” sure of the military’s loyalty.

“We are not bothered by any rumors of a coup. The AFP has already issued a statement to that effect—that it is a professional organization. It will abide by the commander-in-chief,” Lacierda said.

He assailed the retired military officers that Trillanes had accused of recruiting active soldiers to join the alleged coup plot.

“The retired military officers have forgotten that this is already a professional organization. This is no longer the organization that they were used to,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda denied that the Aquino administration was a left-leaning government.

“That’s very not true. When the President meets the soldiers, he is always concerned about their plight, their well-being,” he said.

Lacierda said the President has been quite supportive of the plight of Filipino soldiers and police officers.

“The President, early on in his administration, issued an order that mission, essential equipment be given to the ground forces. We have increased the combat pay of the soldiers and we are providing housing benefits not only for the soldiers,” he said.

PNP monitoring

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday said it was monitoring rumors of a destabilization plot supposedly involving retired military officials connected to the previous Arroyo government. However, it has received no such intelligence reports, the PNP said.

PNP spokesperson Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. assured the public that the PNP would thwart any effort by any group to recruit its members in support of a supposed coup against Aquino.

Cruz said the reports, including the revelations of Trillanes, have been placed high on the PNP’s priority list for intelligence operatives to verify.  With Norman Bordadora, Jocelyn Uy, Gil Cabacungan and DJ Yap

Originally posted: 4:30 pm | Tuesday, March 6th, 2012