Galvez calls for 2-year fixed term for future AFP chiefs

Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr.

Outgoing Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. hopes his future successors would have a two-year tour of duty.

Galvez, who is stepping down on December 12 as he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56, would have served for eight months after his assumption of the military leadership last April.

“Para magkaroon talaga ng continuity, that is what we are asking, magkaroon ng ganong tenure so that the AFP will be manned by a Chief of Staff na at least we can look forward to the reforms that we can make for two years,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the flag-raising ceremony at Camp Aguinaldo on Monday.

While he finds his term of eight months as “too short,” he believed he still accomplished “many things.”

Galvez’s recent predecessors also served for less than a year: Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero served for six months; Gen. Eduardo Año served for 10 months, and Gen. Ricardo Visaya served for five months.

The retiring AFP chief said he wants to be remembered for the “institutional reforms” he has created and his efforts to weed out corruption in the organization.

But the seasoned general’s legacy, he believed, was the end of conflict with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) under his watch.

Galvez also expressed hope to serve the government even after his retirement: “I would still want to serve my country.”  /kga