The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Sunday denied the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) accusation that the military sow public disinformation to discourage the Church and people from pushing through the Charter Change rallies.
The AFP clears that what has been said in the media about threats of terrorism is based on reports gathered by the intelligence units. In fact, there was nothing new in the statements released in media about the country’s present security situation.
It is a known fact that in any assemblage of big crowd, threat of terrorism is always possible. Terrorists can or may take advantage of these rallies to sow fear and inflict injury among our people through terroristic activities. Thus, there was no disinformation as what the CBCP claimed.
To inform and remind our people of the present security situation and to caution them to be careful do not mean stopping them from participating any rally. As protectors of the people and defenders of democracy, the AFP highly respects the right of the citizens to assembly and expression of grievances through peaceful means.
We are just doing our jobs to secure the public. The objective is to advise our people to be more careful to preempt any unlawful undertakings of the rebel groups.
Moreover, the government forces are doubling their efforts to ensure the safety of the participants to the prayer rally. The safety of the civilians is the military’s paramount concern. (PRESS RELEASE - 4th CRG, CRSAFP)
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