National Security Adviser (NSA) Eduardo Año on Wednesday, March 4, filed a criminal complaint before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against 18 individuals claiming to be former Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) personnel, lawyer Levito Baligod, and former representative Mike Defensor after they tagged him in an affidavit alleging payoff deliveries.

Año said the respondents violated Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) which penalizes unlawful publication and utterances. It also includes charges under Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, which penalizes the use of information technology to spread false information that endangers public order.

“I filed a case against the so-called ex-Marines, as well as Atty. Baligod, and Mike Defensor. If you remember, they included me in their affidavit and that is really malicious, a fabrication, and bereft of truth. So I have to protect my name, I have to defend my honor because I will not sell my name to anyone, for any amount,” he said.

In a press conference last Feb. 24, Baligod presented the 18 men who introduced themselves as former Marines and claimed in an affidavit that they delivered P805 billion to several government officials, including Año, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Romualdez, and Congresswoman Leila de Lima, among others.

The money was supposedly connected to anomalous flood control projects and sent to Año in a paper bag, a claim that Año vehemently denied.

Año confirmed that Defensor was included in the charge sheet because of his alleged logistical support for the group.

“Never in our lives has anything like this happened to us until now. Much more, the claim that I received a paper bag. That is just so absurd,” Año said.

He said he was offended by the claims of bribery as he noted that even his contemporaries, such as Rep. De Lima, could attest to his record.

During his stint as Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) from 2018 to 2022, Año maintained he strictly enforced a “no take, no give” policy.

“There were many offers placed there, I had them returned. That’s not my style,” he stated.

Aside from that, he also expressed disappointment that some of the respondents were his former subordinates as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Año served in the military since 1983, retiring in 2017 as the military chief.

“I served as Chief of Staff and some of them were under my command. I never taught them to lie or to invent any stories,” he said.

The military earlier clarified that four of the 18 men were not part of the PMC while most of them were dishonorably discharged from the service. Netizens also pointed out inconsistencies in the claims of the 18 alleged former Marines, one of them was the supposed delivery of money to de Lima at a time when she was still in jail.

Año challenged the whistleblowers to come clean about who is orchestrating the allegations or face “karma.”

“Tell the truth. Do not let yourselves be manipulated. Say what is true because you will not get away with this. If you tell lies, karma will catch up to you,” the NSA warned.

The retired general also asked the public to be discerning regarding unverified information as he pointed out the lack of evidence in the documents filed against him.

“When you see the affidavit they made, you will see that not even a single line has any shred of evidence. They say there was a handover of a paper bag, but I don't even know what that paper bag looks like. I don't know if it contained steamed buns or whatever,” he said.

Año also clarified that he has no intention of seeking elective office when he decided to file charges against the respondents.

He described the current legal battle as a necessary defense of his honor: “I would never do that in my life [accepting bribe]. That is why I will go after them. This is only the initial salvo,” he concluded.