Two lady lawmakers - Senators Imee R. Marcos and Risa Hontiveros - lauded today the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for rejecting calls for the formation of a revolutionary form of government.
"Nobody approached me,’’ according to Brigadier General Norwyn Romeo P. Tolentino (Philippine Army), in a reply to Marcos whether he has knowledge of the supposed ‘’revolutionary government’’ during an in-person and virtual public hearing by the committee of national defense of the bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) on the appointments of 15 AFP officers.
Marcos later said that she is glad the AFP against the proposed formation of a revolutionary form of government adding that these officers have testified that they follow the 1987 Constitution.
It would be clear violation of the Charter, she added.
When asked by Hontiveros what is his stand about this reported call for a revolutionary government considering that one of the sworn duties of the members of the AFP is to uphold the and defend the Constitution and to bear true faith and allegiance to it, Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr. said he is not familiar with the group calling for a revolutionary government and that he does not believe in a revolutionary government.
"We have existing mechanisms, we have a Constitution that is really robust. It really needs some reforms, there are provisions in the Constitution that are obsolete, that is what we should look at. I think that is what this group is, they are dissatisfied with the slow pace of reforms due to Constitutional constraints, I still believe that we need to support reforms in government and this can be done via legislation,’’ he explained.
Parlade is the highest ranking AFP officer to be confirmed today by the CA.
On a query on how the AFP should respond in the highly-improbable scenario that a revolutionary government is declared, Parlade replied: ‘’I think it is clear, we have to go back to the Constitution, to determine whether these actions are allowed. Our actions will be limited by what is within the Constitution.’’
"I am glad the government dismissed this call, and that our Armed Forces have expressed that it stands by the Constitution,’’ Hontiveros said, adding the proposed revolutionary government is just a "distraction.’’