The right to peaceably assemble and express dissent is sacred in any democracy.
This is elevated in Article III of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which guarantees fundamental human rights and protects citizens from government abuse, equal protection under the law, freedom of speech, press, and assembly, and the right to due process.
Filipinos have always turned to prayer and public gatherings to voice their hopes, frustrations, and calls for reform.
The three-day peace rallies planned by the Iglesia ni Cristo starting Sunday and by other groups on Nov. 30 fall within that shining tradition of an appeal for unity, moral renewal, and integrity in governance.
While we affirm the right to peaceful protest, the nation must be vigilant against those who would hijack these assemblies for darker ends.
History teaches that legitimate calls for change can be manipulated by opportunists – especially adventurists with past military record who have since disregarded accepted standards of behavior and, used in political contest, rash or reckless actions while glowing in the noisy rallies they have joined.
The country has seen this move in decades past when restive elements in uniform, with their civilian collaborators, exploited unrest to justify extra-Constitutional shortcuts.
The result has always been the same – -economic paralysis, political instability, and the erosion of hard-won freedoms.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. has described these anti-corruption rallies “as a vibrant exercise of democracy, not a threat to it…a pro-Filipino expression of democracy — a sign of a healthy republic where dissent strengthens, not weakens, freedom.”
By standing firm, the AFP has shown it is not just a force with arms, but a force with principle – disciplined, professional and resolutely loyal to the Constitution and the Republic.
Let it be clear: destabilization, by coup or any unconstitutional means, is no cure for corruption or inefficiency.
It merely replaces one form of imperfection with another, usually worse. Investors flee, jobs disappear, and ordinary Filipinos bear the heaviest burden of uncertainty.
The military, Constitutionally mandated to protect the state, suffers deep institutional wounds when factions turn against civilian authority.
There is nothing wrong with condemning wrongdoing, praying for national unity, or demanding accountability.
These are signs of a healthy democracy.
But the moment such calls become tools for power-grabbing, they cease to be patriotic.
They become acts of betrayal to the Constitution, to the people, and to the republic that generations of Filipinos have built and defended.
The times call not for adventurism, but for steadiness.
Not for intrigue, but for faith in our democratic institutions to cleanse themselves.
We salute our soldiers who remain loyal to the flag.
Let our churches remain faithful to peace.
And let our countrymen remember that genuine reform can never be achieved through the barrel of a gun.
Gen. Brawner aptly said: “The true strength of a military is not measured by its weapons, but by its loyalty to the people it serves.”
By standing firm, the AFP has shown that it is not just a force with arms, but a force with principle – disciplined, professional, and resolutely loyal to the Constitution and the Republic.
