This photo taken on April 4, 2017 shows Philippine soldiers marching during the army’s 120th anniversary ceremony at Fort Bonifacio camp in Manila. AFP PHOTO / TED ALJIBE
The show should work wonders for troop morale, especially if the idea came from the Commander in Chief himself.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will host a concert for the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Malacañang on April 22 as a way of recognizing the military’s “sacrifices in maintaining the nation’s sovereignty, peace and security,” according to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).
Titled “Konsyerto sa Palasyo 2023” (Concert at the Palace), the show will be the first in a series of programs featuring established and upcoming local artists “to highlight the nation’s rich culture and world-class talent in the performing arts.”
They will include not only singers in the theater scene and pop and rock genres, but also dancers, instrumentalists, rappers, and spoken word and movement artists from Cebu, Ilocos Norte, Quezon, Cavite, Iloilo, Davao, and Metro Manila.
The concert is the brainchild of the President himself, the PCO added, as he “firmly believes that the creative industry should not be left out as the nation takes leaps of progress towards economic recovery.”
For the first show on April 22, the Palace audience will be mainly composed of members of the different AFP services, together with their families. It starts at 6:30 p.m. and will be livestreamed on the Bongbong Marcos Facebook page as well as that of the Office of the President and Radio Television Malacañang.
AFP pension review
“Filipinos are naturally talented, creativity is in their blood. So let’s recognize them and support them because every beginning has promise,” Mr. Marcos said in a video message.
Since assuming office in June last year, the President had repeatedly pledged support for the AFP modernization program which was legislated during the Ramos administration, was revised and continued during the Benigno Aquino III presidency, and whose third and last phase would cover Mr. Marcos’ six-year term.
But the President’s relationship with the military has not been without controversy.
Two weeks ago, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno disclosed that the President was seeking a review of the pension scheme for military and uniformed personnel to avoid a “fiscal collapse” and allow the government to save P130 billion a year.
Diokno said that under the current pension system, which was fully funded by the national government, the amount received by retired personnel would increase by 100 percent when the “salary of the incumbent [official] is doubled.”
READ: Marcos wants military pension plan reviewed
Out of the loop
In January this year, defense and military circles went abuzz with talk of “destabilization” with the resignation of acting Defense Secretary Jose Faustino Jr. This was after President Marcos reappointed Gen. Andres Centino as AFP chief of staff, replacing Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro.
Faustino stepped down reportedly because he was kept out of the loop in the decision leading to Centino’s reappointment. The President replaced him with former Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr.
Growing unrest and an eventual uprising in the military led to the Edsa People Power Revolution that drove the President’s father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., out of Malacañang in 1986.