BY SAMMY JULIAN
Manila News Bureau Chief
MANILA – Malacañang shot down reports that restive noise – a main component in any coup plot – is brewing among the rank-and-file of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“Any discussion on coup, you would have to involve the Armed Forces – the men and women in active service – because you need that component (for the military) to be successful (in overthrowing the government),” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said.
Now, Lacierda pointed out, the situation is completely different when the effort to initiate a military uprising is triggered by retired generals.
“As a member of the AFP, there are certain liberties that are curtailed such as the right to freely express views and the right to assemble,” he noted. “In context, after one is retired from active military service, one regains those rights. So retired generals are nothing but ordinary civilians.”
Lacierda was reacting to claims made by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV that some retired generals with links to former president and now Pampanga congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were plotting against the government of President Benigno Aquino III.
Trillanes declined to name the retired generals and offered no other details about the alleged plot.
“I can only speak for the men and women in government, in active service,” Lacierda told members of the press. “But insofar as…whether there is any restiveness on the part of the Armed Forces or…the members in the active service, there is none.”
However, he said there is lack of interest in such claims since the government has already implemented reforms in the AFP.
“We have provided mission essential equipment to the people on the ground,” said Lacierda. “We have provided housing units. We have modernized the AFP. These are the measures that we have implemented to strengthen our Armed Forces. And the rank-and-file realize and do recognize and appreciate the efforts of the Aquino administration in this respect.”/PN
