Navy: Groups may use Duterte’s arrest to “weaken” chain of command

The Philippine Navy is reminding members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to remain professional as groups may use the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte to “weaken the chain of command.”

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Navy is reminding members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to remain professional, noting that “domestic and foreign” groups might use the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte to “weaken the chain of command.”

Navy spokesperson for the WPS Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said this when asked about the possible hand of foreign power to destabilize the country.

“The actions right now of the armed forces, as mentioned by the AFP public affairs office, is to remind the members that in the current situation, we have to remain professionals,” Trinidad reiterated in a press briefing on Tuesday.

“Interest groups, domestic and foreign, would like to sow intrigue, disinformation, misinformation, mal-information, to weaken the chain of command and to cause it to break,” he added.

For her part, AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla reiterated that there were no reports of their personnel resigning following Duterte’s arrest.

Last March 11, Duterte was served an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC)  over alleged crimes against humanity committed during his administration’s bloody drug war. He is now under the custody of the ICC, awaiting for the start of his trial on Sept.23.

READ: Duterte says he is responsible as ICC takes him into custody

“I would like to repeat my statement that there are no reports of AFP personnel resigning. So we don’t file cases because no one resigned. In fact, as I said, strictly our resignation is a formal process. You cannot resign via social media,” she stressed.

READ: AFP: No reports of personnel quitting over Duterte arrest

She also disclosed that AFP members found to be behind the social media accounts spreading these “fake news,” would be sanctioned accordingly.

“We have the necessary policies in place, social media policies within the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and any personnel found to be a violation of this will be sanctioned accordingly,” she said.

“Yes, so the account owners, if these are verified to be owned by AFP personnel, they will be sanctioned accordingly based on the policies in place. Others we leave that to our law enforcement agencies to implement,” she added.

Duterte is currently detained in The Hague, Netherlands and had attended his pre-trial hearing at the ICC via video call last March 14.

Based on reports, Duterte’s war on drugs left at least 6,000 people dead; however, human rights groups reported that the number may have reached 20,000.