MANILA, Philippines?Gen. Delfin Bangit will not be the Armed Forces? chief of staff under his administration, President-elect Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino III announced Wednesday.

Aquino minced no words on the ticklish issue and categorically said Bangit, who was named AFP chief of staff by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo two days before the constitutional ban on appointments, would have to go because he intended to put his own man in the military?s highest post.

Aquino said Bangit?s ?comments and insinuations? did not indicate ?a harmonious relationship with us.?

In contrast, Bangit?s counterpart in the Philippine National Police, Director General Jesus Verzosa, may be retained.

?I?ll probably retain him,? Aquino said of Verzosa during his first press conference after his proclamation.

He said that except for Bangit, 54, all military officers with confirmations pending at the Commission on Appointments would get promoted: ?With a caveat that I assume all who have been presented to the Commission on Appointments, with the exception of the chief of staff, have no issues before them, and after a cursory review or as clear a review as possible, we will push their appointments so that those who are deserving will be considered [as having fulfilled] the requirements of the Constitution and get their appropriate ranks.?

He said he had received feelers from Bangit but made it clear that it was his will that would prevail in the situation.

?There have been intermediaries,? Aquino said. ?He knows where I am coming from. I understand what he needs, and we will work for the betterment of the institution and the stability of the country.?

Aquino also disputed Bangit?s allegation that he was the reason for the delay in the confirmation of the chief of staff and other military officers on June 4.

?It should be clear that Congress was called to be the national board of canvassers. You cannot hold the session at the same time as the Commission on Appointments and take several of their members,? he said.

Through AFP spokesperson Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr., Bangit said that as a professional soldier, he would follow his superior?s orders.

?In the meantime, he will just continue working and serving the AFP,? Burgos told reporters.

Bangit watched the live TV coverage of Aquino?s press conference at the Batasang Pambansa complex after his proclamation, Burgos told the Inquirer by phone.

He said he was with Bangit, who was then attending to paperwork in the latter?s office at the general headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo, when the press conference was aired.

He declined to disclose Bangit?s reaction to Aquino?s announcement, saying the man?s sentiments were best kept to himself.

Bangit returned to work after watching Aquino?s press conference on TV, Burgos said.

?He is a very professional soldier, and though his term was short he will be remembered forever for bringing the AFP to a very professional level,? Burgos said.

He said one of Bangit?s ?big accomplishments? was the ?peaceful and credible automated elections.?

Bangit will join the lean list of generals who served short stints as AFP chief of staff. Retired Gen. Benjamin Defensor Jr. has the shortest stint in recent history, serving for only 69 days in 2002.

The two men are both members of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1977.

Earlier Wednesday, Gilbert Teodoro, a former defense secretary and the administration?s standard-bearer in the May 10 elections, agreed that it was the next President?s choice to replace Bangit as AFP chief of staff.

Honorable retirement

?But he must be allowed to retire honorably,? Teodoro told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo hours before Aquino, his cousin, was proclaimed President-elect.

?I have never heard of courtesy resignations in the AFP, [and] it is also important to follow the process in the military organization,? Teodoro said, adding:

?If [General Bangit] is not the choice of the incoming President, let him at least retire with dignity ... [His] dignity must be preserved.?

Teodoro was at Camp Aguinaldo to attend the testimonial review in honor of Lt. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang, the AFP vice chief of staff. It was apparently his first public appearance after he conceded to Aquino a day after Election Day.

Maclang, a member of PMA?s Class of 1976 of which Teodoro is an honorary member, retired Wednesday, his 56th birthday.

He turned over his responsibilities as the AFP?s No. 2 man to Lt. Gen. Nestor Ochoa, chief of the National Development and Support Command.

But Ochoa?s designation is only in an acting capacity because of the enduring constitutional ban on appointments.

No ordinary citizen

Former AFP Chief of Staff Victor Ibrado said the officer holding that post was ?not like any ordinary citizen.?

Ibrado conceded to reporters that making the appointment was the prerogative of the Commander in Chief, but added: ?The chief of staff of the Armed Forces, wherever he goes, should go with dignity.?

He acknowledged that Bangit?s case was a first in the AFP and that it ?must be studied very well.? But he said he was not anticipating any ?major reaction? from the military as a result of the situation.

Still, he said: ?The President-elect definitely cannot tell [Bangit] to resign now because the appointment is until June 30.?

Bangit had earlier said that until he is replaced by Aquino after June 30, he would continue to stand for the AFP and fight all forces that would drag it into politics.

Rex Robles, a military analyst and retired commodore, saw no big problem with Bangit being shown the door even if he reaches retirement age only in July 2011.

He said what was important was that Aquino would not mishandle Bangit?s case.

?The problem is, if he?s not treated properly, [if he?s not accorded treatment] requisite to his rank, it wouldn?t look good,? Robles told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

He added that Bangit?s replacement should go through the proper selection process by the general military council.

Robles, who was part of the Feliciano Commission that looked into the causes of the Oakwood mutiny of 2003, said Bangit could be assigned to the general headquarters? ?holding office? in the meantime.

He said the office?the ?freezer? in police and military parlance?allowed for ?an administrative way of handling people whose assignments are not clear or are not yet determined.?

?So if he?s transitioning from chief of staff to nothing, he stays there,? Robles said. ?It?s not a problem.?

3 stars

Prospero Pichay, Ms Arroyo?s political adviser, said Bangit would return to being a three-star general by the time his replacement is named.

?Since he was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments, which has already adjourned sine die, his promotion?which is ad interim in nature?ceases to exist,? Pichay said in a media briefing in Malacañang. ?He will be back to [being a] three-star general ... because he was bypassed.?

But retired Justice Raoul Victorino, Ms Arroyo?s chief legal adviser, clarified that such a scenario would not necessarily mean that Bangit was being demoted.

?No, I don?t think so,? he told reporters. ?The position is not submitted to the Commission on Appointments. It is the rank. So when his rank does not receive the confirmation of the CA, then he goes back to the original rank.?

Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said the controversy surrounding Bangit would be better resolved by the military chain of command, including the new Commander in Chief.

?We do not want to tread on very sensitive issues,? he said. ?It?s not very easy to speculate on matters of the AFP ? because they have their own tradition, their own culture, their own rules.?

Morale a crucial matter

Mendoza said the Palace was wary about causing ?demoralization? within military ranks, especially in light of the bypassing of the promotion of Bangit and the other officers.

?Promotion is a very crucial matter of morale in ... the AFP. It?s not easy to be a general. Life is difficult, from being a lieutenant to being a full colonel. Your life is on the line. The only reward is not the salary but the rank, the star,? he said.