National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya. Photo by Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — An official on Monday denied claims that the recent reorganization of the National Security Council was due to a supposed rift in the country's security sector.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier issued Executive Order No. 81 mandating the reorganization of the NSC to ensure that the body can adapt to evolving domestic and international security challenges and opportunities. 

Under the order, the vice president and previous Philippine presidents are no longer members of the NSC.

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"Ako na ang nagsasabi… wala pong rift sa ating security sector, ang mga unipormadong sundalo at personnel ng ating pamahalaan ay 100 percent behind the constituted authority and the chain of command," NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said in a televised briefing.

“Kung meron man kayong nakikita sa social media ng mga taong may hinaing o may komento, ito siguro ay retiradong miyembro ng Armed Forces, wala pong incumbent or current officials of the Armed Forces, na hindi sumusuporta sa chain of command. Nasisiguro ko po yan," he said.

Malaya said this following a statement of the Makabayan bloc, which the official said was made to sow intrigues within the government.

"Mukhang galing ito sa Makabayan Bloc alam mo naman ang mga kaibigan natin dyan, they see things when there is none naghahanap ng isyu para pag-awayin yung mga nasa pamahalaan," he said.

"Sa mga kritiko na nagsasabi na the NSC reorganization is indicative of a rift within the security sector, malabo po yan, wala pong katotohanan. At yan po ay nang-iintriga lamang para sa headline. It’s for the headline. Kasi nga papalapit na ang elekyon, kailangan nasa balita sila na madalas dahil kailangan nila ng media mileage."

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'TRUE FACE OF POLITICS'

For activist party-list Bayan Muna, the NSC reorganization goes beyond national security issues.

“This is about political survival,” former Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares said in a statement Sunday.

He said EO 81 “clearly shows the widening rift between the Marcos and Duterte factions” in national government as well as a supposed lack of government attention to more pressing issues.

"Ang mga ganitong hakbang ay nagpapakita ng tunay na mukha ng Philippine politics — isang bangayan ng mga dinastiya para sa kapangyarihan habang ang mamamayang Pilipino ay nagdurusa sa kahirapan,” he said.

(These kinds of moves show the true face of Philippine politics — a rivalry for power between dynasties while Filipino citizens suffer in poverty)

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan — like Bayan Muna, both a critic and a target of the NSC — earlier said that the reshuffle at the NSC would not bring "any real change" in policy anyway.

Colmenares said Sunday that the clash between dynasties should prompt voters and citizens "to struggle for genuine political change that is not beholden to any of these political factions."

'DISCRETIONARY'

Meanwhile, Malaya also denied that the reorganization of the NSC had anything to do with the Philippines’ ongoing territorial row with China over the West Philippine Sea, saying that the decision was merely an exercise of Marcos’ discretion.

“No, ang naging desisyon ng ating Pangulo ay discretionary. Siya naman, may karapatan siya na magpalit ng mga miyembro ng NSC gaya ng ibang nakaraang Pangulo lahat ng Pangulo… reorganized the NSC,” he said.

“Ito ay merely an exercise of Presidential discretion because the NSC is an advisory body to the President therefore the President has the authority to reorganize it at anytime,” he stressed. 

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