Military: No destabilization plot monitored vs President Duterte

(Eagle News) — The military on Thursday said they have “not monitored” any destabilization move against President Rodrigo Duterte.

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Eduardo Año made the statement after Senator Antonio Trillanes IV verbally distanced himself from the allegations made in a post circulating online about the supposed plot.

The Facebook post–which Trillanes said was made by one “General Kakilala”—quoted the supposed account of a “respected journalist,” who reportedly got word from a “really reliable source” that a “popular politician was trying to convince a certain Captain Popoy of  (the Philippine Military Academy Class 2006) to execute a coup d’etat plan against” the President.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s camp later identified Kakilala as Brigadier General Joselito Kakilala, who has reportedly retired.

According to the journalist, based on the post, the destabilizers chose Class 2006 “because it has the most number of graduates, 300 plus, and most are in the Army.”

“I did not feel alluded to, not only wala naman akong nire-recruit but I’m also not popular,” Trillanes, a graduate of PMA Class 1995, said during the Senate finance committee hearing on the proposed 2018 budget of the Department of National Defense.

According to Año, they have also “not monitored any recruitment activity in the organization.”

“We have not received any cause for dissatisfaction,” he said.