AFP checks ‘foreign funding’ in UPI rally; spox cites China
The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Tuesday said it was looking into the possible involvement of foreign funders behind the two-day protest rally in Quezon City that called for the resignation of President Marcos amid the public works corruption scandal, noting its “organized” logistics and “grand” preparations.
The acting AFP spokesperson, Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, directly tagged China as a suspect.
“Our neighbor, the large country being run by the Chinese Communist Party, will do everything under their means to sow discord within Philippine society,” he said.
The rally organizers, composed of retired military and police officials who call themselves United People’s Initiative (UPI), scoffed at the AFP’s suspicion of foreign funding.
The Quezon City government, meanwhile, denied UPI’s request to extend their rally to a third day on Tuesday.
The UPI gathering called on Mr. Marcos to step down should he fail to restore public trust in government following allegations that lawmakers, public works officials and private contractors colluded to pocket flood control funds worth billions of pesos.
Trinidad said the AFP observed “unusual” administrative and logistical support for the UPI protests, including large-scale catering.
Esperon among attendees
“The way it was organized, the support system, the food and the other ancillary equipment or facilities needed, it was organized, it was grand, the preparation was grand,” he told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo.
The kind of food served “will give us an indication of the support system or the funding of the activity,” Trinidad said.
“We are checking all possible leads, especially when it comes to funding if these were done by domestic or maybe even, for all we know, foreign groups,” he added.
Reacting to the AFP in a Facebook post, UPI founder and convener Romeo Poquiz said: “What foreign funding? We can’t feed everyone who attends our rally!”
Apart from Poquiz, also seen at the UPI rally were former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., former Western Mindanao Command deputy commander Orlando de Leon, and former Philippine Coast Guard commandant Damian Carlos, among other retired generals and flag officers.
The UPI event coincided with another, much bigger “Rally for Transparency” called by the influential Iglesia Ni Cristo in Manila.
Originally planned for three days, the rally was cut short on Monday night, with the INC leadership saying its intended message was already delivered and would no longer need a third day.
No more third day
The decision also came after Sen. Imee Marcos, President Marcos elder sister and the last speaker on the second day of the rally, made headlines for talking on stage about her brother’s long-alleged drug use.
Meanwhile, the Quezon City government denied UPI’s request to extend its rally for another day on Tuesday, saying the group violated one of the conditions for the grant of the rally permit.
In a statement, the local government said the rally speakers on Monday “incited the participants… through speeches and banners, to the accomplishment of any acts of sedition, rebellion, and insurrection (sic).”
The statement did not elaborate. But among the day’s speakers was Cavite Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Barzaga, who called for the President’s resignation.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla on Monday said the government would check if statements tantamount to calls for sedition were made during the UPI rally. —WITH REPORTS FROM JASON SIGALES AND KEITH CLORES
