ARMED Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. yesterday said the military is conducting intelligence operations to verify the background of all candidates to ensure that only legitimate Filipino citizens are participating in the May national and local elections.
Brawner made the statement at Camp Crame where he attended the opening of the National Election Monitoring Center, along with officials from the PNP and the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Brawner said the military will inform the poll if it identifies “red flags” among the candidates.
“We’re looking into the candidates, all the candidates. We are looking into their background, so we are doing a background check,” Brawner said in mixed English and Filipino in response to a question about the possibility of foreign actors influencing the elections.
“If we see red flags, we will inform the Comelec about this because we don’t want a repeat of what happened during the last elections when candidates were able to sneak pass us,” he also said.
Brawner did not elaborate but he was apparently referring to the case of Alice Guo, who won as mayor of Bamban in Tarlac in the 2022 elections.
Authorities have established that Guo is a Chinese citizen, whose real name is Guo Hua Ping. Her real identity was unmasked during the congressional hearings on the operation of an illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) facility in Bamban that was raided by authorities.
During the hearings, it was discovered that Guo’s birth records were registered with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) via the late registration system. Both her parents are Chinese citizens.
Aside from faking her real identity and allegedly coddling illegal POGO operations, Guo has also been accused of being a Chinese spy.
Guo has denied that she faked her identity and insisted that she is a Filipino. She likewise denied being a Chinese spy.
The Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed Guo from the service in August last year in connection with her links with the illegal POGO hub raided in Bamban.
The Office of the Solicitor General has also filed a quo warranto case against her.
“We are in collaboration with the PNP and also with the Comelec to make sure that we will prevent this kind of things from happening again. We are intensifying our intelligence operations,” Brawner said.
AFP public affairs chief Col. Xerxes Trinidad said the intelligence gathering “is geared towards helping the Comelec ensure the integrity of the electoral process and safeguard national security.”
“This initiative is conducted in coordination with the Comelec and PNP and focuses on identifying potential security threats arising from foreign interference and malign influence. Any findings will be confidentially relayed to the Comelec for appropriate action,” Trinidad said in a statement.
Trinidad said the AFP is “strictly non-partisan.”
“Our efforts are anchored on impartiality and respect for the democratic process. We hope this clarification provides the proper context to prevent misinterpretation of our actions or statements,” he said.
PREMATURE CAMPAIGN MATERIALS
Meanwhile, Garcia labeled the huge billboards and other early campaigning materials of candidates running in the May polls as “offensive” and “disappointing.”
In an interview, Garcia said he is dismayed over the proliferation of premature campaigning materials, stressing that candidates are supposed to wait for the start of the campaign period before these are distributed and put up.
“All of us are getting offended by these giant campaign materials we see on the road. Personally, I am definitely disappointed about their presence,” he said.
Garcia issued the comments amid the proliferation of huge billboards of senatorial aspirants, like Ben Tulfo, Erwin Tulfo, Chavit Singson, Wilbert Lee, Bong Revilla, Bong Go, and Benhur Abalos, among others.
Television and radio stations have also been airing campaign commercials of Go, Abalos, Erwin Tulfo, Imee Marcos, Abi Binay, Lito Lapid, and Camille Villar.
The poll chief, however, said the Comelec remains powerless against early propaganda materials, noting that under the Election Automation Law, “any person who files his certificate of candidacy shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period.”
“What can we do? The law, Republic Act 9369, states that they are only considered candidates once we enter the campaign period. Therefore, there is no such thing as premature campaigning,” Garcia said.
The official campaign period for national candidates for the May 2025 elections will run from February 11 to May 10, while local candidates can campaign from March 28 to May 10, 2025.
Garcia said all the Comelec can do now is to appeal to political aspirants to refrain from coming out with propaganda materials outside the campaign period.
“To our candidates, please slow down and show self-restraint. Anyway, you have 90 days for national and 45 days for local candidates to campaign,” he said.
He said all aspirants with giant billboards in bridges and overpass, among others, are expected to take these down three days before the start of the campaign period as required under Comelec Resolution No. 11086.
The resolution states that “all prohibited forms of election propaganda shall be immediately removed, or caused to be removed, by said candidate or party at least 72 hours before the start of the campaign period.”
“They must take them down before the start of the campaign period because that will be a ground to disqualify them,” Garcia said.
Brawner appealed to Filipinos to vote for the “right people” during the elections.
“We’ve been hearing complaints about the country’s problems, some are even thinking that the solution is a military coup de etat or military junta. That is not the solution,” he said.
Brawner said people should vote wisely to address the country’s problems.
“Let us use this, let us use our right of suffrage in a proper way,” he said. – With Gerard Naval
