President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. back to his former post as the chief of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU).
Galvez was the peace adviser in the Duterte administration, but Mr. Marcos tapped him as officer-in-charge of the Department of Defense until the President named Gilbert Teodoro as his Defense Secretary this month.
Mr. Marcos also named Isidro Purisima, the erstwhile acting peace adviser, as senior undersecretary of the OPAPRU to work with Galvez.
Galvez was chief of the Philippine Army, then Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Galvez also served as the country’s vaccine czar and chief implementer of the government’s national policy against the disease.
In a statement issued by the OPAPRU over the weekend, Galvez said he was told by the President that he was being reappointed to help in pushing forward the Bangsamoro peace process because “this is where his heart is.”
Galvez acknowledged the remarkable economic progress in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, as he recommended the revival of what he described as “a sea lane of commerce” in the southern portion of the country.
Galvez previously served as commanding general of the Western Mindanao Command where he played a significant role in ending the five-month siege of Marawi City in 2017.
He was conferred the Order of Lapu-Lapu (Kamagi Medal) for his “outstanding performance as the unified commander during the liberation of Marawi City.”