Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. has admitted that restiveness has begun to ripple through the military, even as he denied any plot to unseat President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“The coup rumors are not true. They are not true. I myself was surprised when I saw the article,” Brawner said during a forum hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP).

Brawner said he personally contacted Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Manny Mogato, who had written that a retired general and a major religious group had approached an Army commander to withdraw support for Marcos.

“I asked him who the Army commander was — and he said, ‘You,’ meaning me?” Brawner recounted. “So I just explained to him that I’m sorry, but if you’re referring to me, then I can tell you directly that I did not talk to any religious group.”

“I did not plan a coup d’état with the Secretary of National Defense directed by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). So, in other words, there is no truth to that report,” he added.

While Brawner dismissed the coup rumors, he did not deny that unease is growing within the AFP, fueled by reports of corruption in government infrastructure programs.

“We know what is happening, and we are just people also. We get angry, and we are angry at what is happening to our country,” he said.

He stressed that the military remains “united, solid, disciplined, and professional,” but warned against testing its patience.

“In the Armed Forces, we conduct ourselves properly. We promote transparency and accountability within our ranks, and yet we continue to see these things happening in our country,” he said.

“We understand the sentiments of the people, and in fact, we are one with them in the fight against corruption,” he added.

Backchannels

Unlike coups of the past — direct, bloody, and confrontational — this unrest has taken shape more quietly through backchannel meetings, social media messages, and protest actions where military figures are openly courted to switch sides.

One such attempt came from retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Romeo Poquiz, who led a coalition of ex-soldiers and civilian groups in a march to Camp Aguinaldo to demand a meeting with Brawner ahead of the 21 September anti-corruption rally.

“Yes, there are calls for the Armed Forces of the Philippines to intervene,” Brawner said. “In fact, if you look at posters during the 21 September rally, there were posters and speeches calling for the Armed Forces to withdraw support [for] the President. This is not hidden; this is not new.”

Brawner said no agreement was reached with Poquiz, but the dialogue reaffirmed the AFP’s commitment to constitutional order. “The meeting was an opportunity to make clear that the military will not intervene in politics,” he said.

The 21 September rally — coinciding with the anniversary of the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s declaration of martial law — became a symbolic test of loyalty. Banners at the protest openly called for the AFP to “intervene” and “save the country.”

“It was a litmus test,” Brawner said. “And we passed. Not one soldier defected.”

He said he reminded troops that while the AFP shares the public’s anger over corruption, soldiers remain bound by their oath.

“I told them, ‘Yes, sir, we are one with the people in our fight against corruption. In that sense, we are the same.’ But I reminded them that as soldiers, we gave up some rights when we took our oath to defend the Constitution, the people, our territory, and our sovereign rights. That includes the right to self-expression. We cannot just go out to the streets to air grievances.”

Trauma and corruption

Brawner invoked the memory of the failed 1989 coup against President Corazon Aquino, which left many dead. “Soldier against soldier. Brother against brother. That’s what happened. We are not going back to that,” he said.

Yet the AFP chief acknowledged that the discontent is real — and its source is not ideology, but corruption.

He revealed that the military has been tasked to audit about 16,000 government projects, many of them flood control initiatives now under scrutiny. Field units, he said, have inspected around 30 percent so far and have already uncovered “ghost projects.”

“When a project turns out to be a sham, it is not only the public that suffers — our soldiers who validate these projects also see firsthand the waste of public funds,” he said.

Brawner emphasized that the AFP’s role is limited to verification, not governance. “Our mandate is to serve the people and defend the state — not to run it,” he said.

He confirmed that some retired officers have floated a proposal for a military-led transition council to “reset” the government but said he rejected it outright.

Instead, the AFP will continue assisting with audits and oversight “to ensure accountability without crossing the line.”

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines remains loyal to the Constitution, to the chain of command, and to the Filipino people,” Brawner said. “But we also know — and the government should know — that the anger is real.”