The military is conducting background checks on all election candidates, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner revealed on Thursday.

During the opening of the National Election Monitoring Action Center at Camp Crame on Thursday , Brawner said the background checking is being conducted through the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP).

"Through our intelligence operations, we are looking into all the candidates. We are looking at their background, so we have a background check. If we see any red flags, we will inform the Comelec (Commission on Elections) about this,” he said.

"We do not want a repetition of what happened in the previous election where (unqualified) candidates got through," he said.

"We are in collaboration with the (Philippine National Police) PNP and (Commission on Elections) Comelec to make sure that we prevent these kinds of things from happening again. So, we intensified our intelligence operations," he added.

In a statement, Col. Xerxes Trinidad, AFP public affairs chief, explained that the military's "intensification of intelligence gathering is geared towards helping the Comelec ensure the integrity of the electoral process and safeguard national security."

"This initiative is conducted in coordination with the Comelec and PNP, and focuses on identifying potential security threats arising from foreign interference and malign influence. Any findings will be confidentially relayed to the Comelec for appropriate action," said Ttrinidad.

"The AFP’s role is strictly non-partisan. Our efforts are anchored on impartiality and respect for the democratic process. We hope this clarification provides the proper context to prevent misinterpretation of our actions or statements," he added. Robina Asido/DMS