BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and VICTOR REYES
PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. has appointed peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. as secretary of the Department of National Defense (DND) vice Jose Faustino Jr. who resigned as officer-in-charge, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) announced yesterday.
PCO Undersecretary Cheloy Garafil said Marcos has accepted Faustino’s resignation.
Malacañang did not say why Faustino, a former AFP chief like Galvez, resigned.
The announcement of Galvez’ appointment followed reports that Faustino and several other defense officials have resigned after the Palace announced Marcos has replaced Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro with Gen. Andres Centino as the chief of the Armed Forces.
Centino was removed by Marcos as the top military chief in August last year. His reappointment as AFP chief was announced by the Palace last Friday and the change-of-command rites were held the following day. Centino was first appointed to the top military post by former President Duterte and served from November 21 to August last year.
Centino’s return as AFP chief cut short Bacarro’s three-year term.
Bacarro was designated by Marcos as AFP chief in August last year and was supposed to serve for three consecutive years under Republic Act 11709, “unless sooner terminated by the President.”
RA 11709 took effect in July last year.
Faustino was absent during the change of command. He was reportedly frustrated over Bacarro’s removal.
Faustino, Bacarro, and Centino are all members of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1988.
There was no explanation from Malacañang as to what prompted the change in the Armed Forces, but it was followed by talks of destabilization and demoralization in the military.
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin has ordered an investigation into the destabilization rumors which spread on social media platforms, and linked the PNP leadership’s supposed order for the police to go on full alert status.
Before Galvez’ appointment was announced yesterday, the PCO released a photo of the President and Galvez in a meeting yesterday.
“It is with deep regret that the President has accepted the resignation of DND OIC Senior Undersecretary Jose Faustino Jr. The President has offered the position of DND Secretary to Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. and he has accepted,” Garafil said.
The DND welcomed Galvez’ appointment.
“With Secretary Galvez’ years of experience as a military commander and as a civilian public servant, we are confident that he will be able to effectively lead the Department as we fulfill our mandate to the nation,” DND spokesman Arsenio Andolong said in a statement.
Andolong’s statement was silent on why Faustino, also a former Armed Forces chief, resigned.
“On behalf of the entire One Defense Team, we express our deepest gratitude to Senior Undersecretary Jose C. Faustino, Jr. for his service and leadership. We wish him the best in his endeavors in the next chapter of his life,” said Andolong.
Galvez served as AFP chief for eight months from April 2018 to December 2018. He is a member of the PMA Class of 1985.
After his retirement from the military service at the age of 56, Galvez was named by Duterte as presidential adviser on the peace process (renamed presidential adviser on peace, reconciliation, and unity in 2021) with rank of secretary.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Galvez served as the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccine czar, in concurrent capacity as peace adviser.
After Marcos assumed the presidency on June 30 last year, he retained Galvez as presidential adviser on peace, reconciliation and unity.
Galvez also held key positions while in the active military service, including commander of the AFP Western Mindanao Command, 6th Infantry Division, and AFP deputy chief of staff for operations.
3 USECS
Faustino was named undersecretary and OIC in June 2022 while waiting for the lapse of a one-year period, after which a retired officer can be appointed to a civilian post. The one-year period ended in November last year, but Faustino stayed as OIC.
Faustino and three DND undersecretaries were rumored to have resigned after Marcos named Centino as Armed Forces chief.
Bacarro, an awardee of the highest military decoration Medal of Valor, replaced Centino who was first appointed as AFP chief in November 2021.
With his return as AFP chief, Centino is also supposed to serve for three years by virtue of RA 11709, also unless sooner terminated by the President.
Sources said Faustino was frustrated after the President replaced Bacarro as AFP chief. One source said Faustino was among those who strongly pushed for Bacarro’s appointment as AFP chief in August last year.
Another source said that while Faustino, Bacarro and Centino are all members PMA Class of 1988, Faustino is “closer” to Bacarro than Centino.
The relief of Bacarro as AFP chief triggered rumors about destabilization efforts against the Marcos administration.
The military denied there was unrest in its ranks, adding it is supporting the President’s decision.
“Insofar as the destabilization is concerned, I don’t think there is one,” Azurin said.
Azurin said he spoke with Centino on Sunday night “and he gave the assurance that the PNP and the AFP will work hand in hand in ensuring that the Marcos administration will be very stable.”
NO MONITORING
Azurin said the PNP is not monitoring the movement of the Armed Forces, stressing that the PNP went on heightened alert due to the Feast of Black Nazarene in Manila yesterday and the upcoming Sinulog Festival in Cebu.
Former senator Panfilo Lacson, a former PNP chief and a member of PMA Class 1971, said the public should stop speculating on destabilization in the armed forces in the wake of the circulating “memorandum” which placed the PNP on full alert status.
“It (placing the PNP on heightened alert status) was for another purpose, not related to any destabilization and the rumored ‘mass resignation’ of DND officials which as it turned out is just that — rumor,” Lacson said in a message to the media.
On Bacarro’s replacement, he said: “It was not a ‘surprise’ move as most people, including many members of the AFP had thought. This was supposed to have been executed as early as November last year and newly retired CS, AFP (chief of staff, AFP) was already made aware of the impending (re)appointment of Gen. Centino but for some reason that I would rather not divulge, it was put on hold.”
He said he also got information that Faustino will resign once Bacarro is replaced.
“There is information, though, that OIC and senior DND undersecretary Faustino mentioned to some close associates as early as last month that he will resign if Lt. Gen. Bacarro will be replaced,” Lacson said.
“That could probably have triggered the rumored ‘mass resignation’ in the DND,” he added.
Lacson expressed confidence that the AFP is composed of professional individuals even though there are “dynamics due to personal associations and loyalties that cannot be avoided.”
“That being said, the AFP is generally composed of professional officers and men whose loyalty to the flag and Constitution is above and beyond their individual preferences,” he added.
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III said there is no reason for the military to be disappointed with Centino’s reappointment as the Armed forces had experienced changes in leadership in the past.
“No reason to cause low morale, as before even the AFP had frequent changes in leadership what we called the ‘revolving door,’” Pimentel said in a message to the media.
In the six years of the Duterte administration, the AFP had 11 chiefs including Centino who remained to his post in a holdover capacity for two months before Marcos appointed Bacarro.
Even the PNP experienced the “revolving door” practice under the Duterte administration as it had seven PNP chiefs (Ronald dela Rosa, Oscar Albayalde, Archie Gamboa, Camilo Cascolan, Debold Sinas, Guillermo Eleazar, Dionardo Carlos), and an officer-in-charge (Vicente Danao).
DIVISION
At the House, ACT party-list Rep. France Castro said rumors of a brewing destabilization plot expose the sad state of the military under the present administration.
“That is the sad state of the AFP today that officers are wrangling among themselves to get to the top rank and get a bigger piece of the pie while their soldiers are committing human rights violations left and right,” said the member of the leftist Makabayan bloc.
Castro said the rumors of an internal conflict within the AFP is a cause for concern because this could lead to a full-blown coup.
“The said squabbling in the AFP is worrisome because a coup may happen again like in the past which entails a lot of human rights violations and bloodshed,” she said.
Reports point to RA 11709 as possible reason for the internal conflict.
The law sets a fixed term of three years for eight of the most senior AFP officers, including the chief of staff and the commanders of the Army, Air Force and Navy.
“It seems that the law is creating tensions or divisions within the military, as some members may feel that they have been passed over for promotion or that the selection process was not fair,” Castro said.
She said some military officers are strongly lobbying for the law to be repealed or at least amended by Congress “so political favors are expected to be owed when that happens.”
AMENDMENTS
Last month, Speaker Martin Romualdez filed a bill seeking to amend RA 11709 after some important issues were raised to him by military officials.
House Bill No. 6482 of “An Act further strengthening professionalism and promoting the continuity of policies and modernization initiatives in the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” seeks to limit the fixed tour of duty of three consecutive years, unless sooner terminated by the President, to just four officers: chief of staff, commanding general of the Army, commanding general of the Air Force, and flag-officer-in-command of the Navy.
It would exclude from the coverage of the three-year tenure the vice chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, unified command commanders, and inspector general. However, it would allow “lateral movement” for these officers.
The bill provides that except for the position of chief of staff, no officer shall be designated to key positions or promoted to the rank of brigadier general/commodore or higher if he has less than six months of active service remaining prior to compulsory retirement.
It also fixes the compulsory retirement age for certain high-ranking officers: 57 years for those with the rank of brigadier general/commodore, 58 for those with the rank of major general/rear admiral and 59 for those occupying the rank of lieutenant general/vice admiral.
The measure would allow the secretary of national defense, in consultation with the AFP, to determine the number of officers in each grade or rank, and in each major, technical, or administrative service.
RA 11709 sets the percentage for the number of officers in each rank. — With Raymond Africa and Wendell Vigilia
