MANILA, Philippines—Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Delfin Bangit on Tuesday told Catholic bishops that people taking to the streets will not be necessary, giving assurances that the conduct and results of May 10 polls will be “acceptable.”
The issue of a People Power revolt was discussed during a meeting where Bangit briefed officials of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on the preparations and deployment of the military for the first nationwide automated polls.
AFP Public Information Officer Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos belied the abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak report that the bishops summoned Bangit. He said it was the AFP chief who requested an audience with the clergy.
Last March, Liberal Party presidential candidate Senator Benigno Aquino III warned of a possible People Power if the May 10 polls would fail. His camp has been floating the idea that he is sure to win the presidency because he’s been the topping the surveys, and the only way he can lose is if he will be cheated—discounting other factors that are not captured by the surveys, such as machinery and the familiarity of voters with the new poll system.
“Di na tayo aabot diyan (People Power), ’yun ang aking paniniwala. Pagka-nagkatulong-tulong tayo lahat, we will have a very good election (We will not have to resort to People Power, that is my belief. If we work together)” Bangit said.
“We will have an election that is acceptable to everyone, ’di na tayo aabot diyan (we will not come to that),” he added.
No to people’s whims When and if the new government would become a “unpopular” to the people, Bangit said that they would always be on the side of the people.
He said that the AFP has a very clear stand on the Armed Forces' role in protecting the people. He reiterated that the AFP would not do anything against the Constitution.
“We will always be on the side of the Constitution. We said we will always be on the side of the people. That will never change,” he said.
Bangit maintains, however, that although the Armed Forces is mandated to protect the people, they would not bow down to the people's whims without basis.
“But if you are asking if we will go on the side of the people power having a revolutionary government, then we have no mandate to protect and defend this,” he said.
Non-partisan Bangit said that the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) would do everything to achieve a very credible election if people would spare the armed forces of partisan politics.
He was former chief of the Presidential Security Group who assumed his current position as AFP chief of staff on March 10—the start of the 60-day election ban on presidential appointments.
Critics say that the President's appointment of Bangit as AFP chief of staff was meant to prevent the proclamation of winners in the May 10 polls.
The Philippine Bar Association filed a petition questioning the promotion of Bangit before the Supreme Court Tuesday morning.
“Pare-pareho lang tayong naghahangad ng magandang kinabukasan (We all want a good future),” Bangit said.
He said that he yearns for a good and clean election because he also wants a good future for his children and grandchildren.
“Every Filipino should take pride in the forthcoming election. If we will all do our best to make it very credible, then we can always walk with our heads high telling everyone, in the international community, that we can have an credible and acceptable election,” Bangit said.
Trouble areas Bangit shared that the elections would not be “100 percent smooth.”
Although there would be problems in trouble areas, he said that they are confident that they would be successful in keeping the elections as clean as possible.
He added that the AFP would respect whoever would be declared winners in the upcoming polls.
He said that election hotspots are already being taken care of by the Joint Security Coordinating Committee of the AFP, PNP, and the Commission on Elections.
The committee has been organized at the national, regional, provincial, and municipal levels, he said.
He said that most of the problems are already being resolved in the regional and provincial levels. The committee gave authority to the representatives of the AFP at different levels to make decisions within their level for “quicker response.”
As a result, joint mobile patrol, joint checkpoints, and operations have been conducted by the AFP. He also added that the PNP would be deployed in different areas that need additional armed reinforcement, but this is still being discussed by the security committee. (abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak)
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