ANOTHER military officer was promoted to a key position in the Armed Forces of the Philippines without screening despite the order of President Rodrigo Duterte that all general staff officers should go through the military’s Board of Generals, a practice discarded during the Aquino administration.
Based on a two-page document obtained by Manila Standard, Colonel Ser-me Ayuyao was one of five senior officers who were promoted without going through the BOG.
Ayuyao was designated acting Judge Advocate General effective June 1, 2016. The TJAG position is a brigadier general position and requires a candidate or appointee to have finished his degree of Master in National Security Administration.
“Colonel Ayuyao is not qualified for the position even in an acting capacity only because there are more senior officers before him who already had MNSA and qualified for the position in an acting capacity or regular appointment,” said a senior officer who asked not to be identified.
Based on the document, Ayuyao only finished the Command and General Staff Course, an O-6 position or equivalent to a master’s degree, but this does not qualify for a general position, or O-7 position.
According to sources, Ayuyao got his appointment as acting TJAG before the mandatory retirement of former military chief and retired general Hernando Irriberi but his official order of designation came out only during the stint of Vice Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Glorioso Miranda as acting chief of staff.
Ayuyao is the most junior among the list of TJAG candidates led by Col. Ukol Paglala, Col. Ma. Victoria Girao, Col. Josefa Berbigal, Col. Jerry Puluhanan, and Col. Erwin Victoriano Machica III.
If the BOG chooses Ayuyao and Duterte approves his appointment, Ayuyao would be the most junior officer to be promoted brigadier general because he is not required to retire until 2026.
Manila Standard tried but failed to get the reaction of AFP chief Gen. Ricardo Visaya, who chairs the BOG.