President Rodrigo Duterte’s Consultative Committee (Con-com) has proposed that armed forces’ officers below the rank of major general would no longer go through the Commission on Appointments (CA).
Retired Lt. Gen. Ferdinand Bocobo, a member of the Con-com, said only officers ranked from major generals or rear admirals and above would require confirmation of the CA under the proposed federal Charter.
Under the Section 16 of the Executive Department under the 1987 Constitution, officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) from colonel and navy captain have to undergo CA confirmation.
However, Bocobo said the provision under the present Charter was only copied from the 1935 Constitution, when the country’s armed forces was only about 12,000 members.
“A colonel (back then) was holding an important and higher ranking position. Now, our armed forces is about 200,000-strong. The responsibility of a colonel now is not that big,” Bocobo said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
“I propose the rank to be upgraded for confirmation to star ranks. Major general for the army, or rear admiral for the navy,” he said.
Con-com spokesman Ding Generoso said this provision was included in the article on the executive department that was “unanimously” approved by the Con-com en banc on Tuesday. /vvp