Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro on Friday urged the public not to be swayed by talk of an alleged destabilization plot against the Marcos administration, calling the issue a product of “information operations” that should not distract the security sector from its work.

“That’s a function really of information operations. There will be all these agitations, we have to learn to live with it and we have to learn to live with it and we have to learn to ignore it,” Teodoro said.

He stressed that it is “unfair” to associate the entire corps of retired military officers with the few personalities being linked to supposed destabilization efforts.

“How many are there? Actually, there are very few, they don’t speak for retired officials. They do not speak for retired officials. That’s why even naming them as speaking for retired officials is unfair to the majority of retired officials,” the DND Chief said.

Teodoro maintained that if any former military officials are proven to have broken the law, then they should be held accountable — but warned against dramatizing the issue and amplifying the actions of a small group.

“This is not the vast majority of the retired officials. So let’s also not glorify these people and put them in a place where they shouldn’t be regarded by the public,” he said.
“I really don’t like to talk about these things because there’s nothing happening here and it distracts from our work.”

Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief Gen. Romero Brawner Jr. confirmed that the intelligence community has been tasked to verify whether any active military personnel are involved in destabilization activities.

“As of now, the intelligence community has not yet reported to me but they are already doing their investigation especially on active members of AFP,” Brawner said in mixed Filipino and English.

The Palace earlier said the military’s intelligence units are validating the claim following a social media post by columnist Ramon Tulfo naming personalities — including former military officials — allegedly plotting the destabilization of the administration.

“We want to make sure that there is no active member of the Armed Forces who will be involved in any of these non-constitutional activities,” Brawner said.