Exclusive | How Philippine military chief foiled ‘soft coup’ bid to undermine Marcos

The officers, led by retired air force major general Romeo Poquiz, delivered their request in person at Camp Aguinaldo, where Brawner was meeting his joint battle staff under a red alert.

The meeting offers a rare window into how the country’s top military leadership handled the most direct appeal yet to abandon the president amid his biggest political crisis to date.

But Brawner said the institution’s long memory of past military uprisings – including coups he personally witnessed – had made today’s armed forces more resistant than ever to political adventurism.

“I told them we are one with the people in our fight against corruption,” said Brawner, the armed forces’ chief of staff. “But I told them that we are different in the way we express, for instance, our dismay at what’s happening.”