Tuesday, May 08, 2007 Military denies electioneering in local absentee voting
THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) vehemently denied rumors of electioneering by some officers during Sunday's local absentee voting in some military camps of Davao Oriental.
Television reports last Sunday said some soldiers from Davao Oriental complained that their superiors were pressuring them to vote for the administration's Team Unity ticket.
AFP chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said he will order an immediate investigation on this accusation.
The Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), however, denied the report, saying they were pure and simple intrigues aimed at casting aspersion against the AFP especially in this coming May 14 elections.
Eastmincom spokesman Major Randolph Cabangbang said "no dutiful soldiers will ever complain about orders from his commander."
"We have a chain of command where we channel our complaints if ever soldiers question the legality of orders," Cabangbang said.
"Military commanders in our area had been briefed on election laws by no less than the Honorable Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos. We know what our mandate is during the election and we definitely know that electioneering is a grave offense for men in uniform," he added.
Cabangbang said they are not campaigning for any particular candidate but were merely conducting voter education to their personnel.
"We are outlining the ideal candidates who will contribute to security and national development. But we are not mentioning names of individuals or organizations. Those who are saying that the military is forcing the people to vote for a particular party are those who have no chance to win and thus present cases of irregularities which will eventually be their alibis for losing," said Cabangbang. (BOT/With Press release)
