MANILA – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has the full backing of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, AFP Chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. affirmed.
Brawner made the assurance on Wednesday, a day after he was quoted saying that many, including soldiers, share Vice President Sara Duterte’s opinion that the government should reconsider its decision to revive the peace talks with the communist rebels.
“Basta’t solid ang AFP and professional,” Brawner said in an interview at the Senate.
“Full support kami kay Presidente (We are in full support of the President),” he stressed.
Told about his previous remarks on talking peace with the communists, Brawner initially refused to talk about it.
“Wag na para hindi ma-divide,” he said, but later advised the media to look at his entire statement on Tuesday.
“Look at the entire [interview] because it seems like it was just cut,” he said in Filipino.
Several media outlets quoted him as saying that Vice President Duterte’s stand against the peace agreement was shared even by some AFP members.
In a television interview on Tuesday, Brawner said: “I cannot blame the vice president for saying this. In fact, this opinion is shared by so many in our country, even soldiers. In our Viber group, there are similar sentiments because of the experience we’ve had with them. We have sat down with them to talk peace but what they were really doing was strengthening the New People’s Army.”
Duterte on Monday warned that the rebels were “insincere” in achieving a peace settlement with the government, as she urged President Marcos to review his policy, including granting them amnesty. She also said the government’s joint statement with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) was an “agreement with the devil.”
Brawner maintained: “We need all the avenues that we can grasp so that we can achieve lasting peace. We hope this [insurgency] will finally come to an end, after more than five decades and it [has] also claimed a lot of lives from both sides.”
The government and the NDFP announced last week that they had agreed “to come up with a framework that sets the priorities for the peace negotiation.”
The AFP chief said: “We believe that [their] joint statement is really moving toward lasting peace.” (Maila Ager, Frances Mangosing, Julie Aurelio © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
