AFP, PNP deny reported ban on ex-generals inside camps

Reports that retired police and military generals were prohibited from entering camps due to an alleged destabilization plot are not true, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Monday.

In a press conference, AFP spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla said that if guards check identities when entering a camp, this was just part of standard operating procedures.

“There is no veracity to that issue. We welcome the presence, of course, of our comrades in arms. Kasama namin dati iyan (We had been with them) and we know their backgrounds. They have been with us all along,” she said.

“Of course, it is standard operating procedure for the guards to ask the identity of people coming in and out of the camps,” she added.

Meanwhile, PNP Chief Police General Benjamin Acorda Jr. said there was no truth in the reports that former generals were prohibited from entering camps.

“There is no issuances on that and there is no basis for us to prevent them from coming here. I don't know where that came from,” Acorda said in a separate press conference.

“In the first place, there is no destabilization. I don't know where that rumor on destabilization came from,” he added.

Acorda also said that if there was such a prohibition, those who are processing their benefits inside the camp would be affected.

Earlier, the AFP and PNP denied reports of an alleged destabilization plot against the Marcos Administration. — DVM, GMA Integrated news