OPERATIVES from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), in coordination with the PNP- Aviation Security Group (PNP-AVSEGROUP), arrested on Monday, January 5, 2026, retired Philippine Air Force (PAF) Major General Romeo Poquiz, who is facing inciting to sedition charges and rebellion.
He was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 upon arrival from Bangko, where he was said to have spent his New Year with his family.
Founder of the United People’s Initiative (UPI) and a vocal critic of the administration, Poquiz is facing charges of inciting to sedition and rebellion filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against him.
Reportedly, the charges are linked to social media posts and public statements denouncing alleged government corruption, specifically involving a multibillion-peso flood control scandal.
PNP Aviation Security (AVSEG) arrested Poquiz and placed him on handcuffs as he disembarked the airplane and was brought to immigration for processing.
It was learned that Poquiz arrived at the NAIA with his family with whom he spent the New Year in Bangkok, Thailand.
He will be transported to Camp Karingal for processing before being brought to the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 77 to post bail.
Meantime, lawyer Atty. Ferdinand Topacio said that the arrest of Poquiz “is but the latest in a series of dastardly moves by the present administration to silence its critics and to intimidate a suffering populace into submission, by making it a crime to voice out the feelings of the average citizen regarding the massive and scandalous corruption that now permeates the current Executive and Legislative departments.”
He said that “Gen. Poquiz was merely verbalizing the frustrations being felt by a vast majority of Filipinos, yet the heavily-weaponized Department of Justice has made him an example of what awaits those who tell the truth loudly and publicly.”
“The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) stands behind Gen. Poquiz, as all freedom-loving Filipinos should. We must not allow ourselves to be bludgeoned into silence. Instead, Gen. Poquiz’s persecution should inspire us to even more loudly denounce the abuses and venalities of the Marcos administration. Those who have won our freedoms, our patriots and heroes, were not cowards. They bravely charged on even when the odds were against them. Only by emulating such courage may our democracy be preserved,” Topacio added.
Poquiz was previously been accused by military leadership of attempting to recruit active-duty officers to withdraw support from the President, a claim which he has denied.
