The Department of National Defense (DND) said that appeals made by certain political personalities for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to withdraw support for President Marcos may get them into trouble.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said that such calls may warrant criminal investigation as he insisted that the AFP stands steadfast in upholding the Constitution under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief.

“Any attempt to sway them away from this duty or to patronize them to support a partisan agenda is futile, particularly when this agenda dovetails with a foreign interest contrary to our own national interests,” Teodoro said.

“Calls for them to ‘withdraw support’ will not amount to anything but to a possible criminal investigation,” he added.

There have been recent appeals from the allies of former president, Rodrigo Duterte, to recall the AFP's support for Marcos.

The latest was made by former House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez during a prayer rally in Tagum City over the weekend, saying this would help de-escalate the tension in the West Philippine Sea. 

Marcos' position in the disputed waters was a complete turnaround from the pro-China policies of Duterte.

Alvarez' statement was met with criticism from lawmakers who described them as “seditious”.

But he reportedly denied that his remarks were seditious, explaining that he was urging the military to withdraw their support “peacefully” and not through the use of force.

Meanwhile, AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the organization will defer on the decision of “higher authorities” on whether or not an investigation is needed to determine if Alvarez’ statements were indeed seditious.

Under Article 139 of the Revised Penal Code, the crime of sedition “is committed by persons who rise publicly and tumultuously in order to attain by force, intimidation, or by other means outside of legal methods.”

“We'll be depending on our higher level authorities, ministerial level, on what, how to handle this. On the part of the AFP, it is our mandate to remain committed of course to our Constitution so as our Chief of Staff [General Romeo Brawner Jr.] has been always saying, the Armed Forces is united and professional, and we are non-partisan,” Padilla said.

"We could state that it is an uncalled for statement," she added.

The AFP will also look into the possible delisting of Alvarez into the reserve force of the Philippine Marine Corps (PMS).

"We have cases already in the reserve force that if they have violated any regulation or even particular in the law, they are delisted in their particular membership as reservists. There were a lot of delisting cases on the reserve force [due to] breach of discipline, that they have not met the following standards that the [service unit] requires," said AFP public affairs office chief Col. Xerxes Trinidad.

The Philippine Navy (PN) said it takes exception to Alvarez' remarks and has directed the 9th Marine Brigade to conduct an investigation so that the lawmaker, who holds the rank colonel in the Navy reserve force, could explain his statements. 

"The result of the investigation will be the basis of the Navy's actions moving forward," said PN spokesperson Commander John Percie Alcos.