Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. Senate PRIB file photo / Nueva España
MANILA, Philippines—Senators see no problem with newly installed Department of National Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. getting the approval of the Commission on Appointments despite alleged destabilization talks within the country’s armed forces.
“The record of Gen / Sec Galvez as a military man is solid. Hence I don’t see any problem with CA confirmation,” Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said in a text message to reporters on Tuesday.
“The only thing which can be raised against him is related to COVID-19, which is not related to the DND functions,” Pimentel added.
Galvez was the chief implementer of the government’s vaccination program at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. During his time, Congress probed the purchase of an alleged overpriced vaccine against the deadly virus.
Senator JV Ejercito, part of the CA, echoed Pimentel’s statement that the new DND chief could easily get the body’s approval.
“I would think so kasi si Secretary Galvez has been active—after his stint as head of the peace process, then as chief of staff and then dun sa pandemic and vaccine czar—I don’t think he will have a problem with the Commission on Appointments,” he said in an interview.
This sentiment was also shared by Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who heads the Senate committee on national defense and security.
Estrada said that Galvez, as a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and a bemedaled Army officer, is qualified “in taking the reins of the department in charge of supervising the overall defense program of the country.”
“I am hoping that Galvez will eventually be nominated for confirmation before the Commission on Appointments to allow him to fully discharge his functions and responsibilities, not just in an acting capacity,” he said in a statement Monday.
With Galvez at the helm of the defense department, the senators are hopeful that he could “unite” the country’s armed forces.
“This move by the President, hopefully, will somehow give a sense of stability insofar as the leadership in the DND and its attached agencies/organizations are concerned,” Estrada said.
This will also “put to rest talks of unrest among the major service branches of the AFP,” according to the senator.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos named Galvez as head of the defense department after its officer-in-charge, Senior Undersecretary Jose Faustino Jr., left his post.
Faustino’s resignation, meanwhile, came after the reappointment of Gen. Andres Centino as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP, replacing Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro.
But this changing of the guard at the defense department “is not alarming,” at least according to Pimentel.
“I believe our AFP is already a mature and disciplined organization; hence it will not and should not be “destabilized” by the issue of personnel movement and promotions. The AFP is larger than the sum total of its personnel,” the minority leader said.