Senator Richard J. Gordon on Thursday expressed confidence that increasing the retirement age of generals to 65 and setting a fixed term of three years for chiefs of staff would redound to the improvement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Gordon said that a fixed three-year term and increased retirement age would enable chiefs of staff to develop, test, and implement effective reforms and meaningful long-term plans and programs of the AFP.
Under the current system, he noted that newly-appointed chiefs of staff usually only have a few months left to take over the position before they retire.
He cited the case of Police Lt. General Camilo Cascolan who was recently named as the new chief of the Philippine National Police.
“The persons at the helm of the AFP should be given ample time – even better security of tenure – to develop, test, and implement effective reforms and meaningful long-term plans and programs of the AFP,” said Gordon.
He said this would also stop the revolving door appointments in the AFP that lead to lack of continuity of policies and lack of successful implementation of programs,” he said.
With the external and internal threats to the country’s sovereignty and security, the armed forces would cope better with seasoned and experienced generals commanding them.
“If they have experience and they retire at 65, they will not only have continuation of policy, consistency, discipline and everything like that, they will also not be caught easily with tricks that have led to the recent ambushes against military troops,” said Gordon.
Gordon also said that Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation, has granted his request for the creation of a sub-committee that would handle Senate Bill No. 1785, which he filed last week.
Senate Bill No. 1785 seeks to maximize and improve the quality of the officers and men of the Armed Forces through an improved attrition system which will be achieved by increasing the mandatory retirement age for senior commissioned officers to 65 and by providing a merit-based promotion system that will assure the Armed Forces of continuous pool of qualified and effective leaders.
Section 2 of Gordon’s bill also seeks to set a fixed term of office of three years for Joint Chiefs of Staff and other generals, which shall commence on the date of the appointment by the President, regardless of the date of confirmation by the Commission on Appointments. However, the President can remove the Chief of Staff for loss of confidence at any time before the end of the three-year term.
Section 3 of the bill also provides that the Superintendent of the Philippine Military Academy shall have a fixed term of four years, provided that an officer eligible for appointment shall have a minimum remaining active service of four years.