MANILA - The military on Thursday said it will seek a dialogue with the officials of the country's top universities, where communist rebels are allegedly recruiting students for a plot to remove President Rodrigo Duterte from office.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines earlier this week named the 18 schools where communists were supposedly trying to project Duterte as the new dictator through a film showing.

• AFP bares Metro Manila schools linked to 'Red October'

AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez said he will seek a dialogue with school administrators, students, the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education about the issue.

"We will make some action on that. We will make sure na kung ano man ang dapat gawin, maisaayos namin," AFP chief of staff Gen. Carlito Galvez said.

(We will make some action on that. We will make sure that we can organize whatever needs to be done.)

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The 18 schools allegedly serving as communist breeding grounds were also listed among seized documents from the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army, he told radio DZMM.

The military, however, is "still validating" intelligence information about these schools, said Galvez.

"We just released this to make them (university officials) aware," he added.

The military earlier said communist rebels are heading a "broad" coalition of Duterte's critics, students and labor groups to overthrow him next month in a plot dubbed "Red October."

The CPP and its alleged co-plotters have rejected the accusation.

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The National Union of Students of the Philippines, meanwhile, claimed that the military's Red October allegation is meant to "create a climate of fear and insecurity" and portray the government as " a victim of destabilization."

"They do not want students to discuss inflation and skyrocketing prices, contractualization, Martial Law in Mindanao, the deadly war on drugs, and other pressing issues precisely because they aim to prolong the suffering of the people brought about by their policies and programs," the group said in a statement.