Pension, peace talks issues used to agitate military
Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV said the people behind moves to “agitate” active members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines are allied “with the Dutertes.”
While he did not provide details nor names, Trillanes said some “valid” internal causes as well as disinformation of the peace talks with the communist rebels were raised against the Marcos administration.
“You can really identify that most of them are allied with the Dutertes. Their agenda is to agitate, hoping they can encourage active members of the Armed Forces. But so far, they are unsuccessful,” he said in a television interview.
“There are valid issues like the reduction in pension, the fixed term law that affected the careers of some officials. So they have internal causes that agitate them (active members of the AFP) but these were corrected already.”
“Then there was the alleged ceasefire with the NPA. Many were agitated but the government has clarified that there are peace talks efforts but no ceasefire,” he added.
For her part, Philippine National Police spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo appealed to the public not to believe everything they see online, including a video that used the photos of PNP Chief Police General Benjamin Acorda Jr. and AFP Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr. and portrayed them as being involved in efforts to change the government leadership.
“We appeal to our fellow citizens not to easily believe in videos or posts you see online, especially if you do not know their source and origin,” Fajardo said.
“At the moment, we are not monitoring any destabilization plot as we have been hearing lately,” she added.
Fajardo said the PNP’s Anti-Cybercrime Group would unmask those behind the fake and misleading social media posts and would be filing complaints against them.
Meanwhile, Trillanes said probers of the International Criminal Court may have already finished their investigation into the alleged crimes against humanity stemming from the war on illegal drugs campaign of the Duterte administration.
“I think the case is now at the finishing touches level for some of the principals, while those who are at the secondary level, cases are still being built up or are about to be completed too,” he said.
“My educated guess is they have already completed their investigation on the alleged crimes against humanity,” he added.
The Bureau of Immigration on Friday said it has no information on the supposed presence of ICC investigators in the country.
The Department of Justice also said it was checking if ICC prosecutor Karim Khan or any official of the organization had entered the Philippines.
“Of course, as representatives of the International Criminal Court, it would be in their best interest to let us know because the mechanisms by which they would be conducting their investigations, their inquiry here would be with the assistance, of course, of the government,” Justice Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano said.
“And for them to come in and to avoid detection, we don’t like that because it would look like foreigners are getting in without any notification,” Clavano added.