MANILA, Philippines — Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said Friday that the military was carrying out background checks on candidates to avert possible “foreign influence” in the upcoming midterm polls.
“Through our intelligence operations, we will check all candidates, including their background. If we find red tags, we will inform the Commission on Elections (Comelec) about it. We don’t want a repeat of what happened during the previous elections that a certain candidate was able to slip through,” Brawner said.
He added that they were in coordination with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Comelec to prevent such occurrences.
“We are in collaboration with the PNP and the Comelec to make sure that we prevent these kinds of things from happening again. So, pinaigting natin ang ating intelligence operations (So, we intensified our intelligence operations),” he said.
The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) revealed that dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping was an apparent “agent of influence” who used her position to sway public opinion or decision-making “to benefit the country that hired her.”
Guo won in the May 2022 elections.
Meanwhile, the PNP and the AFP are prohibited from providing private security to candidates for the 2025 midterm polls.
At the opening of the National Election Monitoring Center (NEMC) in Camp Crame, the PNP and AFP are “strictly not allowed” to provide security to candidates to prevent another Alice Guo case.
“We are very strict about that. That’s what we need, we are very strict with our people that are moonlighting and having private duties,” said PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil.
He said that qualified candidates were allowed a maximum of two police security escorts provided they met necessary requirements in conjunction with existing policies of the Comelec.
“But right now we are looking at the low-threat and medium-threat, so I need to discuss with the chairman what will be our policy on this, but again, we’re very strict against that moonlighting, we make sure that they will be discharged,” Marbil said.
He warned that police personnel found to be moonlighting would be discharged from their post, and those coddling them in police stations would face charges.
Marbil assured the public that moonlighting among police officers “will never happen again.”
He also noted that the PNP would “not tolerate any officer who compromises commitment to neutrality and fairness.”
For his part, Brawner reminded military personnel, particularly members of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU), to avoid moonlighting during elections.
“In the past elections, we didn’t have any problem with our active AFP members moonlighting, nearly none. But what we are monitoring is our CAFGUs,” Brawner said.
CAFGU members, composed of qualified reservists residing in localities, are called for active duties in the military. This irregular auxiliary force supports operations alongside regular soldiers of the AFP.
