Coup recruitment on - AFP

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga – A brigade of troops tried to break camp and join the interfaith rally in Makati last Friday but they were stopped, the Armed Forces chief disclosed yesterday.

Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. did not identify the military unit and where it was based, or whether the soldiers were armed and in military trucks, tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Speaking at the closing ceremonies for the Balikatan military exercises at Clark Field in Pampanga, Esperon said junior officers were monitored “exchanging notes,” but no unauthorized troop movements were reported last Friday.

“I think there is one (destablization attempt) at the brigade level that I know of, but that was promptly reported by the officer. There were some exchanges of notes among junior officers that was also reported to us,” he said. “What is important is that in the meantime, they have not been successful at it.”

Esperon said military intelligence agents monitored some retired military officers at the anti-government rally in Makati last Friday.

“There was the flag of the Magdalo that was flying near the stage,” he said. “Two people were accosted for carrying arm bands that could have been used somewhere, so we are looking into that.”

Esperon warned retired military officers against recruiting active military personnel into joining anti-government activities.

“There are attempts by some retired military personnel to recruit active personnel, but they have not succeeded in that,” he said.

“They have not been successful at it because in the past, as in the case of Nov. 29 (the Peninsula hotel takeover), there were some calls to some commanders, who reported the matter to higher authorities,” he said.

“We want to get them (retired military officers) when they are in the act.”

Esperon said some of those involved in the Peninsula takeover are again taking part in plots against the administration.

“What we could draw from this is that we do not expect new faces or new people in the (present) destabilization activities,” he said. Esperon said Magdalo officers continue to engage in anti-government activities via cyberspace from their cells in military stockades.

“There have been calls for some of our elements to join the fray,” he said.

“Our stand is we’d rather remain as a constitutional organization following the chain of command, obeying the duly constituted authorities.

“Our stand is that the more the military intervenes in such political exercises, the more we weaken democracy which we gained for ourselves in 1986.

“We don’t even have to name names, but we can take care of that. But I must tell you that the Armed Forces of the Philippines remains solid.”

-the philippine star