DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana yesterday said the AFP’s Board of Generals (BOG) made a mistake in recommending Lt. Gen. Jose Faustino Jr to the post of Army chief.
The BOG is chaired by AFP chief Gen. Cirilito Sobejana. Its members are the AFP vice chief of staff, AFP deputy chief of staff, and the chiefs of the Army, Air Force and Navy. The board recommends to the President, through the Defense Secretary, assignments of officers to key positions, like Army chief.
President Duterte named Faustino as acting Army chief in February, or nine months before he reaches the retirement age of 56.
Faustino’s relief was announced by the military leadership last Sunday, based on Republic Act 8186 that says an officer should have at least one year left in the service before he can be designated to key posts such as Army chief.
Faustino relinquished his post to Maj. Gen. Andres Centino yesterday morning during rites, presided by Lorenzana, at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.
In his address, Lorenzana said Faustino’s relief “is unprecedented in the history of the Philippine Army” but added “we have to do it to address some legal infirmities in his designation as commanding general.”
“I think the higher-ups made a mistake because there is a law that says that no general officer will be designated as chief of services, that means Army, Navy, Air Force, if they have less than one year in the service before retirement, compulsory retirement,” he said.
Asked if the higher-ups he was referring to was the Board of Generals, Lorenzana replied: “Yes. BOG.”
In his speech, Lorenzana said Faustino had less than a year in the service left when named as acting Army chief “so there was a very big challenge on the legitimacy of his being
commanding general of the Philippine Army.”
“So he had to be removed and placed on a position of major responsibility as well while waiting for a designation to more higher or higher position,” said Lorenzana of Faustino.
