Newly appointed Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Tuesday admitted “rumblings” within the military due to Republic Act 11709, which grants a three-year fixed term for the AFP Chief of Staff and other key officials, but said this situation would be resolved within the first quarter of 2023.
In the hearing to amend the law conducted by the Senate Committee on National Defense chaired by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, Galvez revealed the unrest among some AFP members as they have not been promoted, and that the law has gravely affected their morale.
The delayed appointments, he said, will mostly affect those officers who belong to the Philippine Military Academy Classes of 1990 and 1994.
“But if we can fix it now, this will be a huge help. It will (remove) apprehensions that the ensuing class especially those in Class ‘90, ‘91, ‘92 that they will be affected and there will be some sort of arbitrary disqualification from the competition,” the AFP’s 50th Chief of Staff said.
Due to this, Galvez cited the urgency to amend RA 11709, which was signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte toward the end of his term, adding he personally asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to help rectify the issue.
The Defense chief disclosed that he requested Mr. Marcos Jr. to make the new military appointments before going to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum.
“I told him, Sir, there is a major issue that we need to tackle—the lives of our officers. Thirty years labored for their ranks, only to find they will be in default because of one delayed promotion and also delay in designation,” he added.
Galvez attributed the delay in the military appointments to the election ban and the transition from the Duterte to the Marcos administration.
The President recently defended his decision to reappoint Gen. Andres Centino as AFP chief of staff, saying he had to “rationalize” the senior military leadership to prevent “chaos” in the lower ranks.
The “unintended consequences” of the retirement law affected 14 key positions, Galvez said, and not resolving it “will greatly affect the dynamism of the organization.”
He noted that some officers “were very much qualified” to be promoted, but due to their age, they were deprived of a higher rank and retired.
Galvez, who was AFP chief from April to December 2018 under President Duterte, said the military organization “had also been deprived to have qualified officers” as a result.
Under the prevailing law, an AFP officer should retire at the age of 56.
Galvez said the Department of Defense will propose a “maximum term” for the tenure of AFP officials, which means that their rank “can be changed anytime.”
Under their proposal. the AFP Chief will have a maximum term of 3 years, while the Commanding Generals of the Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force, and Philippine Navy will have 2-year terms and the Superintendent of the PMA would have 4 years at most.
The AFP Vice Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff, Unified Command Commanders, and Inspector General can be appointed to a higher post if they still have one year in service, Galvez added.
Another part of the recommendation is that no official can be promoted to brigadier general or commodore if his remaining service time before retirement is less than 6 months.
“Though we acknowledge the beauty of RA11709, the intention of preventing the revolving policy but the intended consequences of prohibiting the junior classes to compete equally, that seems to be the effect,” Galvez pointed out, adding that the law affects 135,000 enlisted personnel.
Responding to a query from Estrada on the gravity of their grievances, Galvez said the military officers were only after fairness.
“What we want is we have to equalize the playing fields. At the same time, we will not arbitrarily remove the best among the qualified from holding the key positions of three stars and one four-star,” Galvez said.
According to Estrada, instead of adopting the suggestions of the House of Representatives, they would follow the recommendations of the DND.
Estrada pointed out that Senate measures proposing amendments to the law were filed last month, long before reports on the rumblings within the AFP came out due to the supposed leadership shake-up.
Estrada said he would like to disabuse the mind of the public that this is being taken up to quell any destabilization plot or address supposed discord within the military.
Last December 6, Estrada filed Senate Bill No. 1601 which seeks to amend RA 11709. Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri filed a similar measure the next day.
While these measures have already been vetted by AFP officials and enlisted personnel, Estrada said they have to hear or consult other concerned parties in ensuring the need to amend the law that took effect only last year.
In a briefing en route to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum, Mr. Marcos said he had to address the unusual situation where Centino still had the military’s four stars even as Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro, with only three stars, was AFP chief.
The President, however, did not explain why Bacarro was appointed in the first place in August 2022 when Centino was still in active service.
Bacarro, who was effectively retired after giving way to Centino—the same man he had replaced five months earlier or in August 2022—was supposed to be the first AFP chief of staff to serve a fixed term of three years under RA 11709.