AFP drops plan to file case vs. Juana Change

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has decided not to push through with the filing of a case against social media activist Mae Paner, also known as Juana Change, for inappropriately wearing a military uniform.

During the Mindanao Hour briefing on Friday, AFP spokesperson Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said AFP chief Gen. Eduardo Año made the decision after he learned that Paner was actually honoring the soldiers when she wore the battledress attire during a rally last Monday.

"The AFP will no longer pursue the case but calls upon Ms. Paner and other unauthorized individuals to henceforth desist from the inappropriate use of our uniforms," Padilla said.

He also reminded Paner and others who plan to wear the uniform inappropriately that the soldiers wear the attire when they go to battle.

“It is the same uniform our soldiers wear whenever we go to battle, and the same uniform many of our heroes die wearing in the battlefield, and in the defense of the motherland and our people,” Padilla said.

“This is the very reason we hold this particular uniform very sacred,” he added.

Padilla also invited Paner to join the military as a reservist so she can wear the uniform without any problems and even asked her to recruit men for the AFP.

Paner’s photograph has been the target of criticism after it was posted and shared on different social media accounts including that of the Philippine Army Recruitment Office.

Paner, in a post on her Facebook account, said what she did was performance art and while she donned the uniform in a  protest during President Duterte's second SONA, it was really to honor the Filipino soldier.

On the other hand, Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate condemned the AFP's earlier threat to charge Ms Paner in court.

Zarate said,  "The AFP is clearly harassing Ms Paner for being critical of martial rule and the increasing fascist propensity of the Duterte administration. As an artist [she] is just exercising her right of freedom of expression like many others who used military uniforms in their performance."

"It is not Ms. Paner who is disrespecting the military uniform but those generals and officials in the military and police who used their positions to enrich themselves, commit human rights violations with impunity and act like puppets and mercenaries of foreign interests, like the imperialist US."  —KBK/KVD/LBG, GMA News