By Priam F. Nepomuceno
MANILA, Feb. 16 (PNA) — The Western Mindanao Command on Monday announced that it remains committed to support duly constituted authorities amidst all allegations and controversies surrounding the circumstances of the Mamasapano incident.
“We remain resolute in working for internal peace and security and recognize that any ploy of destabilization is against the constitutional mandate to preserve the national security of the state,” Capt. Rowena Muyuela, Western Mindanao Command spokesperson, said.
She said that the Command issued this statement in the wake of the Mamasapano, Maguindanao incident where members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters killed 44 members of the Special Action Force last Jan. 25 during an encounter stemming from the operation to neutralize Malaysian terror bomber Zulkipli bin Hir alias Marwan.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Col. Restituto Padilla earlier said all efforts to bring down the present government with a coup d’ etat will fail.
He attributes this to the high degree of dedication and professionalism in the military today among the factors.
“We firmly believe all these efforts will fail. First, because of the high degree of dedication and professionalism of our AFP today; Second, majority of our citizens no longer buy these kind of efforts and easily see through it’s real intent which is, that all these are political in nature with an end view for 2016; and third, the administration still enjoys a high degree of support,” Padilla stressed.
He also clarified that he does not have any information or reports on the claimed coup in his possession as talks are coming from the outside.
“However, talks within military circles say that a number of them have served in previous administrations and have pushed various reform agendas previously as cover for their efforts,” the AFP spokesperson stressed. (PNA)