Marcos Jr. vouches for new DND, NSA appointees’ experience, track record

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. AFP file photo

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has defended the appointments of several retired generals to key positions in his Cabinet, citing their extensive experience and track record in government service.

Marcos, during an interview with reporters on Sunday while en route to Davos in Switzerland, said that both National Security Adviser (NSA) Eduardo Año and Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. had proven their worth while they were in service.

Año and Galvez, both former chiefs of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), served in different capacities during the term of former president Rodrigo Duterte.  They replaced former Department of National Defense (DND) officer-in-charge Jose Faustino Jr. and former NSA Clarita Carlos.

“Before he became chief of staff, before he became group commander, he was [with] ISAFP [Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines]. So sanay na sanay ‘yun [he has the experience] and he’s well-known, and he knows all of the operatives in the intelligence community,” Marcos said of Año.

“Well, ‘yan isa pa. Very, very experienced, and in fact, as soon as he took his oath, he was already… he knew already what to do. Nag-command conference na siya. So I think he’ll slide into that position really easily,” the Chief Executive added.

Año and Galvez figured in the recent shakeup within the country’s defense establishments, which included the reappointment of AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Andres Centino in lieu of Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro.

No less than AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar admitted in an interview on Monday that they were surprised at the speed of the changes within the important defense institutions.

READ: AFP admits being surprised with speed of Defense leadership shuffle 

During the first week of January, there were talks of unrest within the AFP and the DND, with several officials rumored to be resigning from their post due to the issue of fixed term limits for officials.

READ: AFP chief Centino calls for unity among military personnel over tenure law 

Previously, Marcos had already defended the reappointment of Centino, saying that the administration wanted to “rationalize the seniority” of government officials.

“Kasi nira-rationalize namin ‘yung seniority… Andy Centino has four stars and Bob Bacarro had three stars. So kailangan natin ayusin kasi magkakagulo doon sa baba, so tiningnan namin, ‘What do you want us to do?’ Nagtanong kami sa military and I said ayusin namin ‘yung seniority and that’s what we’ve done,” Marcos said.

(Because we are rationalizing the seniority… Andy Centino has four stars, and Bob Bacarro has three stars. So we need to fix it because there will be trouble in the bottom ranks, so we checked, “What do you want us to do?” We asked the military, and I said let’s fix the seniority, and that’s what we’ve done)

READ: Centino named AFP chief to fix seniority issue – Marcos

As of now, Marcos said he had asked Galvez to create a shortlist of candidates to replace the latter’s vacant spot at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU). With reports from Niña Cuasay, trainee

JPV