Filtered By: Topstories
News

AFP denies reports of planned withdrawal of support


The Philippine military stood firm Tuesday that it will not intervene in the prevailing political crisis, denying text messages that it is waiting for a million rallyists to take the streets before withdrawing support from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. In a statement, military information chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro dismissed the text messages as nothing by “disinformation" intended to undermine the Armed Forces in the face of the situation. "This text is disinformation. AFP officers have received the text message and similar ones. They were sent from two cellphone numbers. This, therefore, indicates that a small group is simply broadcast texting for the purpose of disinformation and agitation," Bacarro said. "We will not therefore dignify and give credence to such attempts to agitate and disinform. We shall remain true to our pronouncements that we will not be swayed into extra-legal actions. We shall remain constitutional soldiers. We will abide by and follow the chain of command and support/obey the duly constituted authorities," he added. The same cautioned was aired by Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, spokesman for the Philippine Army. "The public should be wary of such text messages. There is no truth in that. Those texts are only meant to confuse, influence and deceive the Filipino people," Torres said. "As members of the AFP, the Philippine Army soldiers will remain apolitical and non-partisan. We will strictly adhere to the chain of command and we will continue to support the constitutional processes. We will not succumb to any pressure from anti-government groups out only to destabilize the government," Torres added. During the 22nd anniversary of the 1986 EDSA uprising last Monday, top officials of the military and police headed by Gen. Hermogenes Esperon and Director General Avelino Razon staged a ‘unity walk’ on EDSA to show their support to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Since last week, top leaders of the military and police have been separately expressing their support to the 1987 Constitution and the duly constituted authorities. - GMANews.TV

LOADING CONTENT