The recent protest action at the Edsa People Power Monument can be considered as betrayal to the country if it is proven to be funded by foreign groups, a Palace official said Thursday.

In a press briefing, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said that the AFP is already looking into the matter.

"If the investigation shows that the rally was really foreign funded we can say that it is a betrayal to our country and the other country should not interfere with us. It looks like the politics in our country is being influenced by other states," she said.

"We hope that this kind of activity will not continue if it is just funded by another country," she added.

In a previous interview, acting AFP spokesperson, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said that the military is looking into the possible involvement of foreign groups allegedly funding the rally led by the United People's Initiative (UPI) at the EDSA People Power Monument where AFP were again urged "to do unconstitutional actions."

In a television interview on Wednesday, retired Maj. Gen. Romeo Poquiz, leader of UPI, denied the alleged funding from a foreign group, but he admitted that there were donors who volunteered to provide food to support the rally.

"That is actually a preposterous claim by the AFP, by this (Rear) Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad. We don't have any foreign funding or funders as he claimed," he said.

"The logistics were provided by donation by private persons by volunteers we never solicited but they helped us, no foreign funding whatsoever. There are donors who organized and provided some of the food but the reality is not all were fed...," he added. Robina Asido/DMS