Ralliers sidestep junta, ouster moves vs Marcos
Tens of thousands of protesters on Sunday expressed dissatisfaction over what they perceived as the government’s slow efforts in addressing corruption, but rejected calls for the withdrawal of support for President Marcos.
As thousands massed at the People Power Monument in Quezon City, organizers of the Trillion Peso March 2.0 prohibited any call on the Armed Forces of the Philippines to withdraw support for the Marcos administration.
“The military should not interfere in civilian matters, so calls for the withdrawal of support, military junta, and revolutionary government are strictly prohibited,” Francis “Kiko” Aquino Dee, one of the organizers, told the Inquirer.
‘Moral reset’
Ahead of the program, Dee—nephew of the late President Benigno Aquino III and grandson of the late President Corazon Aquino—said the group has not reached any consensus on whether to allow calls for the President’s resignation, but respected “people who have such calls.”
Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, ruled out the possibility of priests becoming part of a junta.
“We also don’t want a civilian and military junta even if bishops get promised a spot in the government, because it is clear to us that our line is not with politics and the government,” David told the crowd of protesters at the monument on the corner of Edsa and White Plains Avenue.
“We will never be tempted to become a Taliban,” he added, referring to the group that governs Afghanistan.
If at all, what the country needs is not a junta, but a “moral reset,” David said.
“It is a shame that the country is predominantly Catholic and this is how corrupt our country is. So, we also have to admit, in a way, that we have all become enablers of a corrupt system,” David lamented. “So, what we are calling for here is a moral reset.”
‘Orchestrated’ moves
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson had earlier said he was approached by some retired military officers to be part of a “civilian-military junta” that will replace Mr. Marcos, but rejected this for being “unconstitutional.”
The overtures happened during the Iglesia Ni Cristo rally for transparency in Manila on Nov. 16 and 17 and days after resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co accused the President of receiving kickbacks from the insertion of P100 billion worth of projects in the 2025 national budget in a three-part video series. Malacañang had denied the allegations.
The senator said the release of Co’s videos and the pro-junta text messages sent to him were part of “coordinated, orchestrated and calibrated” moves to overthrow the government.
In a news forum on Oct. 3, AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. confirmed that some retired officers and active younger officers reached out to him during the Sept. 21 anticorruption protests calling for the military to intervene amid the corruption scandal.
Active military officers rejected their calls, which included mounting a coup d’etat in order to come up with a reset of the Philippine society, or a withdrawal of support for the Commander in Chief, Brawner said.
‘Sow darkness’
Buoyed by the support of retired and active military generals, President Marcos is “ready” to take on any threats to oust him amid anticorruption street protests, Malacañang said.
In a manifesto dated Nov. 28 but released on Sunday, the Association of General and Flag Officers (Agfo) rejected calls for the withdrawal of support for the Commander in Chief even as it threw its support behind the President, who is facing the biggest crisis of his administration yet.
As tens of thousands of Filipinos mounted the biggest rallies yet against corruption in government, Malacañang press officer Claire Castro said she never observed the President to be threatened by persistent talk of attempts to overthrow the government.
“The President will listen to the Filipino’s plight. But there are some, a few, who want to sow darkness in our government and want the President removed. So he cannot afford to be complacent; he must always be ready,” she said over GMA News.
‘Military adventurism’
In its manifesto, Agfo condemned “political noise and agitations” calling on the military to withdraw support for the President, citing Article 16, Section 5 of the 1987 Constitution prohibiting the military to engage in any partisan political activity, except to vote.
“We strongly condemn and reject any call for the AFP to engage in unconstitutional acts or military adventurism,” it said in the manifesto signed by its president and chair, retired Army Gen. Gerardo Layug, and 75 high-ranking retired and active officials of the military and uniformed services.
It was the AFP that released the manifesto on Sunday.
The last few weeks saw the resignations of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman after they were linked by Co to the alleged insertion of P100 billion worth of projects in the 2025 budget. Both denied the allegations.
At the same time, Co and 17 others were charged with graft and malversation before the Sandiganbayan over the P289.5-million substandard road dike project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
