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The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is no longer amused. For several weeks now, the military was trying to quell the persistent rumors of a destabilization attempt.
Its patience is wearing thin. General Romeo Brawner has denied for the nth time there were active military plots to unseat the commander-in-chief, President Fedinand Marcos Jr.
An exasperated military spokeswoman has threatened to cancel the monthly pension of some retired generals, associated with the previous administration, for spreading disinformation and propaganda. She was obviously trying to dissuade the handful of noisy retired generals from further creating public doubts on the military’s loyalty to the chain of command.
The military has the right to defend the institutions by filing criminal complaints against unreasonable retired generals seeking to break the chain of command. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro has also weighed in, saying the military is stable, cohesive, and very professional. However, some retired generals continued to agitate the military to intervene and withdraw support from the president.
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They were using social media to call on the Atmed Forces to take over and end the billion-peso corruption scandal in the government’s infrastructure projects. There had been attempts to link the defense and military establishments to the infrastructure scandal. It all started in the flood control, landslide protection, and farm-to-market road projects in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Many overpriced, substandard, and non-existent infrastructure projects were also found in the Department of Education (DepED) and the Department of Health (DoH). Now, some sectors were also trying to drag the Department of National Defense (DND) into the controversy involving military-grade structures that were unfinished and unused.
These could affect the country’s national security. Bad roads and highways, creaking bridges, and other collapsing vertical and horizontal structures are not only public interest concerns. These were also national security issues. Bad infrastructures could impair military movements in cases of national emergency and natural disasters. The defense and military establishmentts need no distraction from their tasks to protect and defend the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Retired generals have every right to raise concerns and grievances to the government, but they should not abuse these rights by spreading lies, falsehoods, There and propaganda in social media. is a thin line between dissent and inciting to sedition. The retired generals knew it. They have seen it in the past, many times. The miliary leadership has been very lenient to the retired generals, when they asked General Brawner to intervene and remove Marcos from power.
They could have been arrested and charged in a civilian court for attempting to incite sedition. The retired generals’ continued agitation must have pushed the military to its limits, when it warned the retired generals could lose their pensions. They should stop the agitation and be the voice for reason, adhere to the rule of law and loyal to the Consiitution which they swore an oath when they were still in the active service for more than three decades.
Shedding their uniform does not give them the privilege and rights to betray that oath and allegiance to the flag and the Constitution. They have earned their pension through hardwork and service when they were still in active duty. But they must continue to remain loyal to the flag and the Constitution to keep their pension. It is unfair to the defense and military establishments if the retired generals continue to attempt ruining the very institutions they used to belong to. They may not be able to piece back together a broken institution.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of this publication.
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