By Junex Doronio

STRESSING THAT THE ARMED FORCES of the Philippines will be professional and remain loyal to the Constitution, AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar on Sunday said they are validating reports of efforts to “upset” the Marcos Jr. administration.

Aguilar stood firm that AFP chief Romeo Brawner, Jr was only “misquoted” regarding alleged destabilization efforts against the government that the latter later retracted.

“These are just efforts to upset. Kumbaga, we don’t see any threats on these efforts,” Aguilar said.

He added: “I will not go into details about this because sa sinabi ng mga kuwan, these are reported efforts. So we’ll just leave it at that muna because… these will be further validated and verified.”

However, he declined to mention names behind these alleged efforts to “upset” the PBBM administration.

“All I can say is we don’t have a threat. There is no plot to speak of and the AFP will be professional and will remain loyal to its Constitution,” Aguilar pointed out.

Under Article VII, Section 18, of the 1987 Constitution: “The President shall be the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the Philippines to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion.”

(ai/mnm)

By Junex Doronio

AMID THE “PHOTO LAB” CRAZE on social media, Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro has warned personnel of defense agencies and the military against using “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Image Generators.”

Without elaborating, Teodoro claimed that there has already been a report that the “seemingly harmless and amusing” application could be “maliciously used to create fake profiles that can lead to identity theft, social engineering, phishing attacks, and other malicious activities.”

In an October 14 memorandum addressed to top officials of the Department of National Defense (DND) and its bureaus, and the chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the defense chief gave the marching order that “personnel are directed to refrain from using AI photo generator applications, and practice vigilance in sharing information online.”

Even if he did not identify any app, Teodoro warned that these AI image-generating apps “compiles its users’ data and creates a digital person that mimics how a real individual speaks and moves.”

It can be noted that several AI image generating apps have been trending online in recent months. (ai/mnm)