No need for probe on alleged destabilization plot, says AFP spox
MANILA, Philippines – The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) sees no need to look into an alleged destabilization plot within the organization, said its spokesman.
AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar on Wednesday said an internal probe on the matter is not necessary since its alert level was not raised or affected over the past few days.
“There’s no need for an investigation inside the AFP because even after or during the change of command ceremony, we did not even raise our alert level. We maintained our alert level because everything was normal within the organization,” he said over ABS-CBN News’ Headstart.
The Philippine National Police, meanwhile, earlier said it would look into the spurious memorandum that leaked over the weekend, immediately calling for a heightened police alert in response to rumors of alleged unrest in the AFP.
No irregularity in change of AFP leadership
Aguilar pointed out that the AFP “knows that officers come and go.”
“We have to [always] follow the change of command to make sure that the organization is united and that we are able to perform our mandate and we are able to perform our mission,” he added.
The recent shakeup in AFP leadership, according to Aguilar, is adherent to the law.
“It is not irregular in the sense that it is within the bounds of the law. Meaning, the President just exercised his power and authority to designate his chief of staff – being the commander in chief of the AFP,” he explained.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. recently reappointed Gen. Andres Centino as AFP chief of staff, replacing his first appointee for the post – Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro.
READ: Returning AFP chief tells troops: Stop ‘squabbling’
Last August, then Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said Bacarro will be the first AFP chief to serve a fixed, three-year term based on Republic Act No. 11709.
RA 11709 or “An Act Strengthening Professionalism and Promoting the Continuity of Policies and Modernization Initiatives in the Armed Forces of the Philippines” – signed by then President Rodrigo Duterte in 2022 – states that the AFP chief serves a fixed, three-year term “unless sooner terminated by the President.”
Following the abrupt change of command in the AFP, interim defense chief Jose Faustino Jr. turned in his resignation, which the Malacañang has since accepted.
Several other top officials of the Department of National Defense (DND) followed suit as they likewise tendered their courtesy resignation.
According to Faustino, he was blindsided about Centino’s return as AFP chief, but Malacañang later argued that the resigned DND officer-in-charge was kept in the loop on the said change in AFP leadership.
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