‘Class’ feud?

All this time Malacanang has seemingly kept silent and oblivious on the reported grumbling among high-ranking military officers over leadership issues at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). But when push comes to shove, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) showed he is no pushover to make difficult but decisive actions.

Asserting the civilian supremacy over military and the police services, PBBM doused cold waters to the reported brewing destabilization against his administration in its seventh month into office. Amid coup rumors, the President accepted last Monday the resignation of retired Gen. Jose Faustino Jr. as officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Department of National Defense (DND).

At the same time Faustino’s resignation was accepted, PBBM named Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. as his new Defense Secretary. The Chief Executive earlier extended Galvez to head the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace and Unity (OPAPRU).

Methinks, PBBM made an excellent choice to appoint Galvez to head this time the Defense Department.

Faustino allegedly resigned following the decision of PBBM to restore Gen. Andres Centino back as Chief of Staff of the AFP (CSAFP) last Friday. Faustino claimed PBBM re-appointed and immediately swore into office Centino without prior notice or consultation with him as OIC of the Defense Department.

The Chief Executive is the Commander-in-chief of the uniformed services of both the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP). Nobody in the AFP, or the Defense Department for that matter, can question his choice of CSAFP. The President even has the option of “deep selection,” or pick lower-ranking than a General to be his CSAFP.

It was in August last year when PBBM designated Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro as his new CSAFP to replace Centino who was due to retire in Feb.,2023 yet.

Bacarro, however, could not get promoted to four-star rank General because this is only for the rank of the CSAFP. All three, namely, Centino, Bacarro and Faustino come from the same batch of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1988. Himself once served as CSAFP, Galvez comes from PMA Class 1985.

Centino reportedly declined to be appointed as Philippine ambassador to India when he got retired ahead of mandatory age of 56. We could only surmise PBBM corrected the inadvertent injustice that prompted him to restore Centino to his previous post as CSAFP.

Over the weekend, the unexplained movements of troop and heavy armor vehicles by the PNP Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City and elsewhere in Metro Manila fueled coup rumors. The alleged destabilization plot gained credence when a PNP memo came out in social media with the purported signature of PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr.

The memo stated all police forces nationwide are placed on “red alert” due to the purported “resignations at the Department of National Defense (DND).” PBBM picked Azurin, from the PMA Class 1989, as his new PNP chief together with Bacarro as CSAFP in Aug. last year.

Was the leaked memo a deliberate attempt to divert public attention away from the PNP’s own brewing dissension within the police ranks? A number of the 900 or more Colonels and Generals reportedly refused to submit voluntary resignations as part of the campaign against illegal drugs.

As events later turned out, there were indeed DND resignations. Yesterday, nine more resigned but all of them were co-terminus executives brought in by Faustino while he was OIC at the DND.

Less than seven months into office at Malacanang, PBBM has replaced his own Cabinet members and other appointees he has named so far to key government positions.

It did not take too long for PBBM to replace his long-time legal counsel and presidential campaign spokesman Victor Rodriguez as Executive Secretary at the heels of the sugar import mess. PBBM appointed retired Supreme Court associate justice Lucas Bersamin as his new Executive Secretary.

Then late last month, PBBM decided to let go of his Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Erwin Tulfo. Despite being among his first Cabinet appointees, PBBM quickly replaced Tulfo after the Commission on Appointments bypassed twice his confirmation. PBBM designated one of the eight deputies of Tulfo, Undersecretary Eduardo Punay as OIC at the DSWD.

Thus, it should be no surprise when PBBM immediately accepted the reported resignation of Faustino.

He, Bacarro, several other presidential appointees were all eased out for one reason or another. Their common denominator: All were signed up during the watch of Rodriguez as erstwhile Executive Secretary.

When the questioned PNP “memo” was leaked last Saturday, PBBM’s wife, First Lady Lisa Araneta-Marcos came out in a video to belie “name-dropping” rumors that she supposedly backed an un-named wannabe to become the new chief of the Intelligence Services of the AFP. Maj. Gen. Marcelino Teofilo, who belongs to PMA Class 1987, is the incumbent ISAFP chief, a post he held since August last year.

In a 35-second video along with Presidential Security Group (PSG) Commander, Col. Ramon “Demi” Zagala, the feisty First Lady vigorously belied rumors of an impending appointment of new ISAFP chief. But she did not explain why she cited this military unit. “I don’t know the people involved. I have nothing to do with the appointments. I leave that up to my husband. And if I find out that somebody is using my name, I shall tell my husband not to appoint you, OK? So, I hope this is clear for everyone,” she ranted. She then instructed Zagala to post this video for immediate dissemination.

Incidentally, Zagala is a personal pick of PBBM to head the PSG and concurrent senior military assistant. He is a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps graduate in La Salle University but earned several military training courses abroad. The Group Commander is a one-star General rank post. Fortunately, Zagala is a non-PMAer and does not need to deal with “Class” feuds when he finally gets his first star-rank in the AFP.