To His Excellency, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte,
We, the Chief of Staff and the Major Service Commanders are fully aware of and bear witness to the many attempts of the many enemies of the State to destabilize and derail your program to address the many ills of our country.
We have tried our best to do our part in supporting these changes and have answered the call of duty and fulfilled our solemn pledge to defend the Constitution and protect the Republic.
However, recent events have placed us in a quandary as those who, like us are pledged to abide by the Constitution, have beyond doubt been the ones habitually undermining and making a mockery of it even while hiding behind it to escape prosecution.
Perhaps the gravest instance that we find difficult to reconcile ourselves with is the unquestionably massive cheating that occurred in the 2016 elections which seem to have involved not only those running for national positions but probably also down to even the congressional if not municipal level.
While we have been hoping that the matter could somehow be settled in the prescribed Constitutional manner, we find it remarkable that to date, despite some noises and allegations raised, not a single person or entity has been made to answer any formal charges by those mandated by the Constitution to do so and none seem likely to be filed in the foreseeable future.
Even more curiously, despite the many weaknesses in our electoral process that have been exposed, not a single member of Congress has made a single proposal for electoral reform even if it were only to prohibit the COMELEC to continue availing of the services of Smartmatic leading us to speculate on the true number of elected officials who may owe their current positions to the COMELEC and Smartmatic rather than to their constituents.
While this situation would not normally be within the bounds of our jurisdiction, it being a political matter, the proximity of the 2019 elections and the not far-fetched possibility that the same travesty may re-occur gives us pause and extreme concern as to how we may simply stand by and allow this repeated, habitual trampling of the Constitution occur in direct contravention of our sworn duty to defend and protect it and the Republic.
Our grave dilemma is that while we are sworn to uphold the Constitution, the present one does not provide any Constitutional means to rectify the situation given that those who, like us, are sworn to uphold it are in fact the very villains who not only have thoroughly transgressed it but who persistently hide behind it to avoid prosecution.
Mr. President, we fully understand that it is not in your nature to ask us to transgress the Constitution we have all sworn to uphold. However, as our Commander-in-Chief we are obliged to present to you our concerns for the preservation of a Republic truly adhering to the rule of law and the protection of its citizens rather than its enemies and ask for guidance as to how the present untenable state of affairs may be resolved. We fear that without timely and decisive action, not only will everything we have fought worked hard and died for will come to naught, threatening the future of our children and future generations.
Thus, we beseech you, as our Commander-in-Chief for your guidance as to our appropriate action. Rest assured that we stand firm and united in our support for you and our belief that you will be able to lead us in finding the best solution for our country. We will abide by any response/decision you may make in this regard.
May we therefore humbly request for an audience where we may resolve these matters over a cup of coffee?
With utmost respect,
(Signed)
The AFP Chief-of-Staff & the Major Service Commanders
(I must confess that I was the one who wrote the letter "for them" out of frustration. I merely wished to "help" them come to their senses. There is quite enough ground already to dissolve Congress and declare RevGov but it cannot be instigated by the President as that would be construed as him lusting to be a dictator. It has to begin with the AFP imploring him to do so simply because there are NO CONSTITUTIONAL means that can be relied on to remedy this particularly grievous affront to the Constitution. What to do when those who are tasked by the Constitution to prosecute electoral fraud are part and parcel of it! The constitution can not be defended by Constitutional means! Thus it is only the AFP, the final arbiter who can step in and ask the Commander-in-Chief to lead them in correcting the untenable situation. They have to ask him. He cannot ask them. Why they still have not done their duty and done so is the big question.)