Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana relieved on Thursday the military’s top intelligence official over the erroneous report on slain and arrested communist rebels.
“I am relieving MGen (Major General) Alex Luna from his post as Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, J2, effective today (28 Jan 2021),” said Lorenzana in a statement.
Lorenzana made the move after the faulty list of slain and arrested communist rebels, which was posted in the military’s social media accounts, turned the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) into a laughingstock and subject to intense criticisms.
Lorenzana said the names indicated in the erroneous list came from the office of Luna based on the investigation conducted.
The names contain lawyers, journalists, former high-ranking government officials and a veteran film director who died several years ago but not due to military operation.
The list that was given to Lorenzana was used to justify the abrogation of the Department of National Defense-University of the Philippines (DND-UP) agreement which required that the AFP should seek clearance from the UP administration first before they could enter any of its campuses.
Some of those who were wrongly included in the list called out the AFP for erroneous information which prompted Lorenzana to apologize and called the incident an “unpardonable gaffe”. The post was already taken down.
Netizens also lambasted the AFP for the wrong information and started to question the multi-million annual intelligence fund being given by the government to the military.
“His negligence only shows a lackadaisical attitude towards his job resulting to confusion and damage to reputation,” said Lorenzana.
“We do not take these offenses lightly and I want to hold the people involved accountable,” he added. (Aaron Recuenco)
