Both the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of National Defense dismissed rumors of a coup d'etat that have been spreading through text messages.
In a text message to GMA News Online, AFP public affairs head Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc said there is no truth to these rumors.
"The AFP is a professional organization which is committed to perform its constitutional mandates," he added. "We will not participate in any political exercises."
DND spokesman Peter Paul Galvez, in a text message, said: "There are indeed rumors, but that's all they are — rumors."
He also urged the public not to spread unconfirmed information.
"This is why we are calling on our people not to fall prey to such gossip by passing on text messages and posting the rumors, thus becoming unwary instruments of disinformation," he said.
The rumors of a coup floated after 44 police Special Action Force troopers were killed in a firefight with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, and private armed groups in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan. 25.
The police officers were supposed to serve warrants of arrest against Jemaah Islamiyah leader Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Filipino bomb maker Basit Usman.
Earlier this week, PNP officer-in-charge Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina said there is no need for a loyalty check within the police force despite reports of low morale after the deaths of their colleagues.
On Sunday, a grieving SAF member voiced his displeasure over the deaths of the 44 policemen, who were also SAF members, by saying that the country “is not worth dying for.”
“This country is not worth dying for sir, kung ang gobyerno natin, sir, hindi kami kayang protektahan," the elite police officer told Interior Secretary Mar Roxas in an open forum at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.
Espina said he reminded PNP personnel to remain professional despite the bloody clash.
PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr. also dismissed the rumor.
"We have no intel on that," he said. "We have nothing, even by any stretch of imagination, that will suggest such a plot."
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