ASEAN Headline-Military | Manila: Armed Forces of the Philippine-AFP chief: Some retired officers wanted President Marcos ousted
Retired military official debunks calls by fellow soldiers for President’s resignation
Retired military official debunks calls by fellow soldiers for President’s resignation Ret. Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan says majority of retired AFP generals do not support causes of other ex-military officials calling for the resignation of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. VIDEO BY IZEL ABANILLA
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MANILA, Philippines — Armed Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said yesterday he rejected calls for the military to topple President Marcos as Manila was rocked by street protests last month against government corruption.Brawner said several retired military officers reached out to him and some younger officers, but the calls for Marcos’ ouster were rebuffed.
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The moves came as the country geared up for the massive Sept. 21 anti-corruption protests sparked by flood control anomalies believed to have cost taxpayers trillions of pesos.
During last month’s protests, “there were posters and speeches calling for the Armed Forces of the Philippines to be the lead. Some of them were saying that maybe we should withdraw our support for the President,” Brawner told a news forum.
There were “several calls for us to intervene, and in fact there was some recruitment, so to speak, sad to say some of them retired officers,” he said.
The would-be plotters were “trying to reach out to the younger officers, trying to reach out to our commanders, reaching out to me even, and convincing us to intervene.”
Brawner said they suggested a “coup d’etat, a military junta, in order to come up with a reset of the entire Philippine society, or withdraw our support – so several forms of military intervention.”
At one point he said he and his military “battle staff” even met with a group of retired military officers led by ex-general Romeo Poquiz, a vocal Marcos critic, who aired their grievances – mainly alleged corruption in the incumbent government.
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Brawner said some of those pushing for military intervention insisted that “somebody else deserves to be president, but they did not mention who that is.”
Brawner said he told the Poquiz group the military institution was “solid” in support of the Constitution.
“We were very clear in our mandate,” he added.
Brawner said he also told Marcos about the plotting and recruitment. — AFP
