An administration lawmaker on Wednesday proposed a fixed term for the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to do away with the revolving-door policy on appointments for the position and shield the selection process from politics.
Rep. Ruffy Biazon of Muntinlupa, senior vice chairman of the House Committee on National Defense and Security, filed House Bill 7677 to “shield the selection process for the AFP chief of staff and major service commanders from political and personal considerations by ensuring that merit and fitness prevail.”
Biazon says the selection process has a tendency to politicize the office of the AFP chief of staff as the appointment to the position has to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointments.
“The current set-up leads to situations where some officers jockey for the position by trying to curry favors with politicians in the hope that they get appointed.” Biazon said.
He said the AFP should be insulated from politics and his proposal, which is supported by the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, was congruent to the AFP Transformation Roadmap.
He also laments that AFP chiefs and the military’s major service commanders oftentimes had terms so short that they could not properly initiate and implement plans and programs to the detriment of the organization. His bill, he says, seeks to correct this problem.
“This bill has a bit of a personal attachment to me. One of the reasons is that it has been a legislation that has been pushed by my father, former Senator, former Congressman, and former AFP Chief of Staff Rodolfo Biazon even in his earlier days in the Senate in the ‘90s. And when I also entered the House of Representatives, we both pushed for the same legislation,” Biazon said.
Biazon will head the technical working group tasked to consolidate the different bills filed prescribing a fixed term for the AFP chief of staff.
