Army chief on coup plot: It’s all talk

MANILA, Philippines — It’s just all talk with no substance.

This was how Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Macairog Alberto described the reported coup plot against President Duterte’s administration.

“It’s all talks. Only from these talks that we heard of it,” Alberto said before the weekend on the reported coup plot claim that originated from Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison. 

Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo entertained Sison’s idea claiming a possible plot against Duterte.

The Army chief explained that events and conditions in the past that pushed some members of the military to destabilize governments have entirely changed for the better under the present dispensation.

“I can assure you that 100 percent of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are loyal to the flag and Constitution,” Alberto said in an interview in Tanay, Rizal last Friday.

And if there are indeed people plotting the ouster of the President, he said they are those who simply want to throw the country in chaos  again,  just to advance their own personal interests.

He was apparently referring to Sison, who recently claimed  that the political situation in the Philippines is ripe for the United States government to order its followers in the AFP and the Philippine National Police to launch a coup and unseat Duterte.

Insofar as the Philippine Army is concerned, Alberto said there have been no reports that soldiers are being recruited to destabilize the government.

“Our soldiers are more professional and are highly satisfied with the current political leadership. Our soldiers will never attempt to join any military adventurism against the government,” Alberto said.

In an event that some individuals will have the courage to recruit soldiers to destabilize the government, these people run the risk of being unmasked immediately. This is because the soldiers themselves will report them to higher authorities, he said.

“They cannot sweet-talk our soldiers anymore because they will be reported immediately to us,” Alberto said.