Following the announcement by Army Colonel Audie Mongao that he withdrew support for President Ferdinand Marcos over the weekend, Malacañang Palace assured that he would be given due process.

“The President, whatever happens here, is listening and monitoring. At kung ano po ang sinasabi ng batas, ang due process ay pairalin at kung ano mang kaparusahan ang ipataw, kung may kaparusahan po man ito, dapat lang po dahil iyon ang naaayon sa batas,” Palace spokesperson Undersecretary Claire Castro said on Saturday.

(“And whatever the law prescribes, due process should be observed, and any punishment that may be imposed, if there is any, must be fair because it is in accordance with the law.”)

Earlier, Army spokesperson Col. Louie Dema-ala said Mongao was immediately relieved of his post and placed in attached/unassigned status to allow a thorough investigation by the Training Command of the Philippine Army.

Mongao reportedly withdrew his "personal support" for President Marcos, effective 9 January. He did not provide a specific reason but said the "Filipino people are worth fighting for."

Discipline, not defiance, sustains the Republic

Civic group leader Dr. Jose Antonio Goitia said Mongao’s action was not an exercise of freedom of expression but a personal position.

“In a democracy, dissent is a right of citizens, not a privilege of armed officers. The moment a soldier speaks politically in public, institutional neutrality is placed at risk. This distinction is not theoretical. It exists to prevent individual judgment from overriding the discipline necessary to maintain the republic’s stability,” Goitia said.

Goitia, chairman emeritus of Alyansa ng Bantay sa Kapayapaan at Demokrasya, People’s Alliance for Democracy and Reforms, Liga Independencia Pilipinas, and the Filipinos Do Not Yield Movement, noted that Mongao’s withdrawal came just two days after a mass oath-taking for newly promoted generals, in which Mongao’s name was absent.

“The sequence invites an unavoidable question: was this an act of principle, or a final protest after being passed over? The authority of the President as Commander in Chief does not hinge on personal approval from officers, regardless of rank or tenure. It flows from the Constitution and from the sovereign mandate of the Filipino people,” he said.

“Moral authority is not something one announces. It is vested by law, sustained by institutions, and judged over time. Recasting personal dissatisfaction as a moral verdict against civilian leadership weakens the very constitutional order the military is sworn to protect,” he added.

Goitia said the Armed Forces of the Philippines under the current administration has remained professional, apolitical, and constitutionally anchored, with no politicization of command or deviation from democratic norms.

“These are facts. They do not support claims of moral collapse. When officers act as political commentators, the credibility of the institution itself is placed at risk,” he said.