THE National Security Council (NSC) yesterday said the recent decision of President Marcos Jr decision to reorganize the council was not the result of a rift in the security sector.
“There is no rift within the sector. Our soldiers, uniformed personnel of the government are 100 percent behind the constituted authority and the chain of command,” NSC Assistant Director General and spokesman Jonathan Malaya said during the “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” public briefing.
Malaya pointed to the “Makabayan bloc” at the House of Representatives as behind the reports that the NSC reorganization was due to a supposed rift within the security sector.
“They see things where there is none,” said Malaya.
Bayan Muna party list Rep. Neri Colmenares earlier said the removal of Vice President Sara Duterte and former presidents from the NSC “shows the widening rift between the Marcos and Duterte factions.”
Colmenares said the NSC organization was “not just about national security – this is about political survival.”
Malaya said the Makabayan bloc is sowing intrigue and seeking media attention because of the elections this May.
He said the NSC reorganization is the prerogative of the President, noting that past presidents have also reorganized the council.
“He has the right to change the members of the National Security Council just like the past presidents,” he said.
“This is merely an exercise of presidential discretion because the National Security is an advisory body to the President, therefore the president has the authority to reorganize it at any time,” said Malaya.
Malaya acknowledged that some retired military officers are criticizing the Marcos administration but said “there are no incumbent or current officials of the Armed Forces who are not supporting the chain of command.”
“I am sure of that,” he added.
“On the claim of critics that the NSC’s reorganization is part or indicative of a rift within the security sector, there is no truth to that,” he said.
The President, in Executive Order 81 dated Dec. 30, 2024, reorganized the National Security Council “to ensure its resiliency as an institution facing the evolving domestic and international challenges and opportunities.”
The reorganization comes amid criticisms aired against the Marcos administration by Vice President Sara Duterte who has threatened the President, his wife and Speaker Martin Romualdez who is a cousin of the President.
Duterte has cried political harassment as she in under investigation by several House committees for alleged misuse of millions of funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education which she headed until June last year when she resigned. She is also facing three impeachment complaints.
The Palace said the reorganized NSC is composed of the President as its chairperson. The members are the Senate president, House speaker, Senate president pro-tempore, three deputy speakers, Senate and House majority and minority leaders, chairpersons of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation, and Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs.
Also part of the council are the chairpersons of House committees on Foreign Affairs, on National Defense and Security, and Public Order and Safety; Executive Secretary; National Security Adviser; Secretaries of Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Justice, Department of National Defense, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Labor and Employment, Presidential Communications Office; Chief Presidential Legal Counsel; head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office; and other government officials and private citizens appointed by the President.
The director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, AFP and PNP chiefs, and NBI director will attend NSC meetings.
