Faustino resigns as Defense OIC in latest security shuffle

Officials announced on Monday that the acting Philippine defense chief has resigned, the latest in a string of high-level changes to the nation’s security apparatus that have stoked fears of new military turmoil.

Jose Faustino Jr., the defense officer in charge, submitted his resignation, which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. accepted “with deep regret.” The top defense post has been offered to  Carlito Galvez Jr., a fellow retired general who has participated in peace negotiations with insurgent groups,  According to presidential spokeswoman Cheloy Garafil.

Garafil stated that Galvez accepted the offer without revealing any other information, such as the reason for Faustino’s resignation as the previous military chief of staff.

Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro, who Marcos had selected as military chief of staff five months earlier, had his time cut short on Saturday. Marcos replaced him with a retiring general without providing any justification for the abrupt change.

The two were classmates at the Philippine Military Academy, and Faustino supports Bacarro. As a young Army officer, Bacarro won the highest military honor for valor in battle, and his three-year tenure was set to last until August 2025.

The nation is concerned about the choice of military leaders. The military has a track record of unrest, coup failures, and corruption scandals, and it has been accused of violating human rights. Since years, there have been efforts to instill professionalism in the military and shield it from the nation’s customarily erratic and corrupt politics.

Bacarro replaced Lt. Gen. Andres Centino as the military’s chief of staff in August last year. Marcos reinstalled Centino to the position. Centino was selected over a dozen senior generals and will serve a new three-year term. Centino was scheduled to retire next month.

The military chief of staff’s term was extended to three years by a new law that went into effect last year. This gave the top general more time to implement reforms and continue his years-long effort to modernize the underfunded military, which is currently dealing with communist and Muslim insurgencies as well as China’s escalating aggression in the South China Sea, where the Philippines and other countries have competing claims to certain islands, islets, and reefs.

After the national police were on alert over the weekend, speculation about renewed military unrest was stoked by Bacarro’s abrupt dismissal. Col. Jean Fajardo, spokeswoman for the national police, however, rejected any connection between the action and any military unrest and stated that officers were put on “heightened alert” only to protect an annual religious gathering in Manila.

Bacarro presented Centino with a saber, a symbol of the military’s authority, during a turnover ceremony on Saturday at the major military barracks in the city. Marcos and Faustino were absent from the ceremony.

The removal of Bacarro came after Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., the head of the national police, decided to tender his resignation on Thursday after Marcos’ interior secretary appealed to nearly 1,000 police generals and colonels to resign so that a committee could look into high-ranking officials involved in illegal drugs.

Azurin urged senior police officers to back Benhur Abalos’ bold initiative as interior secretary. However, he claimed that some generals disagreed with the demand that they step down within a month because they were not charged with any crimes and had not been connected to the drug trade.