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Alan Robles

Raissa Robles

A Philippine army colonel relieved for his anti-Marcos stance has “voluntarily” returned to his unit and will face charges and psychiatric evaluation, according to his superior.
Audie Mongao was on Friday discharged from command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Training Support Group after he publicly withdrew support for President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr in a social media post, saying “it’s too much, enough already”.
Army spokesman Louie Dema-ala said Mongao was “put into attached/unassigned status to give way for a thorough investigation” by the military.
Since 1986, a Philippine military officer’s “withdrawal of support” has been synonymous with an attempt to unseat a sitting president in a coup.
Marcos’ father and namesake was overthrown in 1986 in a “People Power” uprising that grew out of an abortive coup bid against the dictator. Fifteen years later, then-president Joseph Estrada was forced out of office after a sudden withdrawal of support by the entire chain of command.
Mongao’s boss Major General Michael Logico told This Week in Asia that the officer was “fully cooperating with us” and “charges will be filed against him regardless of the psychiatric assessment”.
Logico, who heads the army’s Training and Doctrine Command, said he tried to contact the soon-to-retire colonel who was on leave when he shared the post.
“I wanted to tell him to take down that post and we would talk,” he said, adding that Mongao returned to the camp on Friday and “voluntarily submitted himself back to military control”.

Describing Mongao as a “hard worker”, Logico said that they have been friends since their military academy days and he “appreciated” the work done by his colleague.
He said Mongao will undergo a psychiatric assessment because “my assumption is nobody in his right mind is going to do that five months before retirement, risking your pension, nobody does that”.
He added that the investigation would uncover the reason behind the officer’s outburst, which sources told This Week in Asia could be linked to his resentment after being denied a promotion.
“What he did was very serious because it is a disrespect to authority. It is stated in our constitution that we are supposed to be non-partisan, and that is also in keeping with good order in the armed forces,” Logico said.
Mongao would reach the retirement age of 57 in May, according to military sources who requested anonymity.


“He cannot get a good position because of low service reputation due to attitude and low performance,” a source said on condition of anonymity.
“We base assignments on performance and service reputation. Maybe he is frustrated or someone instigated.”
The source added that Mongao had “many problems”, attributing the officer’s poor work ethic to his extensive family responsibilities.
Dr Orlando Mercado, a former senator who publicly withdrew his support while serving as the defence secretary of Estrada along with armed forces chief Angelo Reyes, said Mongao’s act could be an isolated incident as it was not backed by the top brass.
“I think it is obvious that there is a difference between the declaration of a single officer and the concerted action of the entire chain of command,” said Mercado, now a professor of praxis at the Ateneo School of Government.
The swift action against Mongao appears aimed at preventing the case being hijacked by Marcos’ critics to destabilise the government reeling from a series of corruption scandals and political attacks by Vice-President Sara Duterte’s family.

On Monday, Romeo Poquiz, a former air force general who served under former president Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested on a charge of sedition after he told the military to withdraw its support for Marcos.
Poquiz’s lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said his client’s remark was not seditious but “a discussion of possible outcomes of corruption”.
The senior Duterte has also egged on the military’s top brass to oust Marcos in the past and his supporters quickly latched onto Mongao’s case by circulating an edited version of the colonel’s post, saying the president has “lost his moral ascendancy to lead the armed forces as commander-in-chief”.
According to Mercado, Marcos is under intense public pressure to jail senior government officials responsible for the “corruption on steroids” as funds worth billions of pesos were lost to non-existent and substandard flood control projects under his watch.
Meanwhile, pro-Duterte groups have expanded their campaign targeting the Marcos administration by amplifying the corruption scandals after the government arrested the ex-leader last year and sent him to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he is now imprisoned and awaiting a trial for crimes against humanity linked to his war on drugs.


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Audie Mongao will also undergo psychiatric tests after he sparked a political storm by withdrawing support for the president


Audie Mongao will also undergo psychiatric tests after he sparked a political storm by withdrawing support for the president.


Ferdinand Marcos Jnr

Sara Duterte-Carpio

Rodrigo Duterte

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Audie Mongao will also undergo psychiatric tests after he sparked a political storm by withdrawing support for the president

Audie Mongao will also undergo psychiatric tests after he sparked a political storm by withdrawing support for the president