‘Too many generals:’ Lorenzana seeks fewer star officers for ‘healthier’ AFP

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA)

MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana is pushing to get the general-to-personnel ratio down, which he said would be “healthier” for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Lorenzana made the proposal during Thursday’s  Senate national defense committee hearing on bills to fix AFP terms, among others.

“I say the bill is already, I think [it’s] OK as far as I’m concerned,” Lorenzana said.

He was referring to the measure filed by Senator Richard Gordon on the fixed terms for the chief-of-staff and other key officers of the AFP.

“Except for one thing, I would like to include the percentage of generals as compared to the number of troops of men in the AFP,” Lorenzana said.

“As it stands today, by virtue of passed legislation, the percentage is .125 and in fact, we have already exceeded that percentage. As of today, we have 190 generals in the Armed Forces of the Philippines when it should have been only 170 as per the percentage,” he added.

Lorenzana proposed lowering the percentage to only 0.1.

‘Too many generals’

“I would like to propose that we peg the percentage of generals to .1 percent of the strength [of the AFP,” he said.

“Our strength is 143,000, that means we should only have 143 generals in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. I believe, personally, that we have too many generals in the Armed Forces,” he added.

“Sa tingin namin dito sa taas…masyadong marami yung heneral natin and if we can put it down to 1 is to 1,000 I think that will be healthier for the organization,” he stressed.

The Senate committee is also working on legislation to reform military and uniformed retirement systems.

Senators have been looking into raising the mandatory retirement age of MUP from 56 to 60 years old to manage escalating pension costs seen to be unsustainable in the long run.

gsg/abc