Newly appointed Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Thursday admitted that some “valid issues” such as delays in the promotion of some officers are being resolved even as he denied reports of unrest in the military.
Galvez made the statement shortly after his joint command conference with the officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the first this year, at the AFP General Headquarters in Quezon City.
In a press conference, Galvez said the Department of National Defense (DND) is working on fast-tracking the process of promotion and the deployment of concerned commanders.
“There is no truth to the unrest. Maybe we have some valid issues, but we are resolving them now. One of them is delays in promotions,” said the former presidential adviser on peace and reconciliation, before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. tapped him for the DND.
Galvez also underscored the need to limit the fixed terms for high-ranking military officers to exclude area commanders.
“If an area commander gets a fixed term of three years, there will be stagnation. The organization of the Armed Forces is very dynamic,” he said.
“If the promotion cycle stagnates, there is demoralization,” he added.
Co-chaired by returning AFP Chief of Staff General Andres Centino, it was the biggest command conference of the military in five years, in an apparent show of support for Galvez, who had served as AFP Chief of Staff from April to December 2018 under President Rodrigo Duterte.
Around 186 service commanders attended the meeting from the Philippine Army (PA), Philippine Navy (PN), and Philippine Air Force (PAF) as well as area commanders from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Galvez also clarified there are no mass resignations in the DND and concerned officials will be retained. “The DND is intact,” said the vaccine czar under the Duterte administration.
The rumors of an alleged destabilization plot in the AFP floated after the supposed resignations of senior DND officials and the reappointment of Centino, replacing Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro, who served for just five months.
Resigned DND officer-in-charge Jose Faustino Jr., whom Galvez replaced, on Tuesday said he quit his post last week after learning “only from news and social media” that a new AFP chief has taken oath in Malacañang.
Galvez, the Army’s former commanding general, then ordered ranking DND officials, who offered to resign following the abrupt departure of his predecessor, to stay put, as he called on officials of his department to remain united.
At least nine top DND officials submitted their courtesy resignations after Faustino – the AFP chief from July to November 2021 also under Duterte— quit his post.
DND Undersecretary for Capability Assessment and Development Angelito de Leon said Thursday all senior officials have decided to stay on.
“We all agreed that we stay, the senior leaders and assistant secretaries,” De Leon said in a press briefing shortly after the traditional New Year’s Call at the AFP headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo.
A day earlier, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said the Senate aims to pass the bill limiting the coverage of the three-year fixed terms in the AFP within the first quarter of this year.
Zubiri said he already discussed this with Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who chairs the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification, and Reconciliation, and already set up a technical working group to study measures amending Republic Act 11709.
“I think the amendment will help with the stability in the military establishment and will remove the sulking of the junior officers,” Zubiri said, amid rumors of unrest among AFP personnel.
