Marcos taps ‘Mindanao veteran’ as defense chief

Lt. Gen. Jose Faustino Jr. FILE PHOTO

Retired general Jose Faustino Jr. is President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s choice as defense secretary, an appointment that was announced on Friday along with those of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile as solicitor general and presidential legal counsel, respectively.

Faustino, a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, will initially serve as senior defense undersecretary and officer in charge of the Department of National Defense, in compliance with the one-year ban on the appointment of retired military officers.

He is to formally assume the post of defense secretary, succeeding Delfin Lorenzana, on Nov. 13, press secretary-designate Trixie Cruz-Angeles said in a statement.

Angeles said Faustino was regarded as a “well-respected Mindanao veteran who has served under the special forces, infantry and intelligence posts.” The AFP through its spokesperson, Col. Ramon Zagala, welcomed Faustino’s designation.

“His over 38 years of military service that culminated in his being the AFP chief of staff gave him exclusive and firsthand knowledge of the country’s security and defense situation,” Zagala said.

“The AFP will support General Faustino’s plans and programs as we face our country’s present and future challenges,” he said.

As defense chief, Faustino is expected to balance the Philippines’ relations with Washington, its treaty ally, and Beijing, with whom the President-elect is on friendly terms and which continues to claim almost the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.

He will also have to contend with an insurgency that has been ongoing for the past 50 years as well as extremist groups in Southern Philippines. 10th AFP chief

Faustino, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy’s “Maringal” Class of 1988, served as commanding general of the Philippine Army before being appointed AFP chief of staff—the 10th head of the 143,000-strong military under President Duterte. He was named to the position in July 2021 and retired four months later at the mandatory retirement age of 56.

Lorenzana expressed confidence in his successor’s capabilities.

“I am confident that with his years of dedicated service as a military officer, General Faustino will continue the DND’s momentum in our internal security and external defense operations, as well as the modernization of the Armed Forces and the entire defense organization,” Lorenzana said in a statement.

He said he was “looking forward to working with General Faustino and his team in the transition period leading up to June 30.”

It was upon Lorenzana’s recommendation to the President that Faustino served as AFP chief.

He served as acting Army chief beginning in February 2021 and was replaced in May of that year, having less than a year before his retirement when he assumed command of the major service.

Faustino’s qualification as acting Army chief was questioned by Sen. Panfilo Lacson during a meeting of the Senate committee on national defense of the Commission on Appointments.

Lacson cited Republic Act No. 8186, which states that except for the AFP chief of staff, no officer shall be assigned to key positions or promoted to the rank of brigadier general/commodore or higher if he has less than a year of remaining service prior to compulsory retirement.

In June 2021, a month before he was installed as AFP chief, Faustino was named commander of Joint Task Force Mindanao, leading the efforts in crafting the Mindanao Security and Stability Plan aimed at synchronizing the peace moves of the Army’s Eastern and Western Mindanao Commands. —Reports from Nestor Corrales, Dexter Cabalza, Reuters and Inquirer Research; Sources: Inquirer Archives, army.mil.ph, afp.mil.ph

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