Palace: Military has duty to quell coups

THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is duty-bound to prevent or quell any enemies of the state, including those who were planning to oust President Benigno C. Aquino III, a Palace official said yesterday.

Presidential Communications Chief Herminio Coloma Jr. said that it was Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin who assured of the readiness of the military to do its job.

“It is the duty of the Armed Forces to stop and destroy all the enemies of the State. All the threats against the State are being looked into and the Armed Forces is ready to quell them,” he said.

Coloma was reacting to reports that there was an ongoing coup plot against Aquino because of how he has been handling the Mamasapano incident resulting in the death of 44 members of the Special Action Force.

It was allegedly being funded by a known businessman.

Gazmin, in the Senate inquiry on the Mamasapano incident, confirmed of receiving reports on coup plot and his office was in the process of verifying these.

Based on initial consultation with ground commanders, AFP public affairs office head Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc said they have not received any feedback confirming the reports about the coup plot.

“We have also established an excellent monitoring system where troop movements and suspicious activities are directly reported to the leaders along the AFP’s chain of command,” he said.

The AFP asked the public not to “glorify these attempts to divide our nation.”

“Our soldiers will continuously support the government in helping solve our country’s problems instead of becoming part of the problem,” Cabunoc said.

Amid reports of mutual distrust, Cabunoc said the military will use the Mamasapano incident to strengthen its relationship with the Philippine National Police “as we work together in fighting the enemies of the state, and in performing our mandate of protecting the people and state.”

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said she is against any illegal means to topple the Aquino government, which only has more than a year left in office.