AFP leadership not aware yet of any active members campaigning for Trillanes

By Ronron
February 15, 2007

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is still not aware of any active officers and soldiers in the service who are campaigning for resigned Navy Lt. Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV, who is running for Senator in the May 14 polls.

AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. told reporters Thursday that in fact, he has yet to check on the blog site of Trillanes’ supporters, http://magdaloparasapagbabago.blogspot.com, which was designed to campaign for the alleged mutineer.

“We have not started any investigation on that. If, as I said, it is maintained by any personnel that is in the active service or a civilian employee, then that will call for an investigation,” Esperon said.

Asked if soldiers are running the blog, the military chief replied: “We cannot give anything definite on that yet.”

Esperon, on the same day, has ordered all AFP personnel and civilian employees not to campaign publicly for any candidate as this goes against the policy that is intended to insulate the military from partisan politics.

But he admitted that the military will have difficulty monitoring the internet, which may be used as medium for the campaign, unless it is found out that the office computers of the AFP are the ones being used for these campaign blogs.

“As to the control of blogs, we will leave that to the proper authorities… We are not the agency that has any regulatory powers over that,” Esperon said.

Trillanes has earlier admitted that he will use other media to campaign for his senatorial bid since he could not leave detention to personally meet the public.

The 35-year-old former officer is currently jailed at the Bonifacio Naval Station in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City as he stands on trial at a military tribunal for alleged violation of Articles of War 96 (conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman), and before the Makati City Regional Trial Court for his coup d’ etat case, both in relation to the 2003 Oakwood mutiny.

Trillanes is running under the opposition’s Grand and Broad Coalition ticket./DMS