'Clarita out, Eduardo in': Marcos Jr. appoints Año as National Security Adviser
MANILA, Philippines — Former Interior Secretary Eduardo Año will now be President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s new National Security Adviser — a position held by Clarita Carlos who previously condemned the state's dangerous practice of "red-tagging."
"Former DILG Secretary Eduardo Año took his oath before the President as the new National Security Adviser," said the Presidential Communications Office in a Facebook post, Saturday.
"Professor Clarita Carlos has decided to continue her pursuit of scholastic endeavors as she joins the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) of the House of Representatives."
Año, who served as secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government of former President Rodrigo Duterte, is a retired Army general who once sat as the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) from 2015 to 2016.
The AFP as an institution is historically known for lumping the underground Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) together with legal and unarmed activists, a practice which groups claim to have led to arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings.
It could be remembered that the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 19 junked a petition outlawing the revolutionary CPP-NPA as terrorists. This came even after Duterte proclaimed them as a terror group back in 2017.
Carlos to continue serving the country
In a statement, Carlos explained why she had to leave the position after Marcos appointed her as NSA last year.
"I have realized that it is no longer politic to continue as NSA to the President and so, I have decided to migrate to another ahency where my expertise on foreign, defense and security policy will be of use and I shall continue to help build a Better Philippines," she said.
The CPBRD, which she will now join, provides House of Representatives with technical service in the formulation of national economic, fiscal and social policies.
Carlos made headlines June 2022, after stating that red-tagging progressives is "unproductive" and "a waste of time."
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