By Argyll Cyrus Geducos
President Duterte has named retired military man Rene Glen Paje as an undersecretary at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), less than a month after his last ex-military appointee to the agency.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte
(ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Based on official appointment papers, Duterte appointed Paje to the post on Feburary 15, barely a month after he appointed Felicisimo Budiongan as DSWD undersecretary on January 23, 2019.
Paje, a retired major general, was the commander of the First Scout Ranger during the five-month Marawi siege which ended in October 2017.
A member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA)Class of 1986, Paje was also the former deputy chief of staff for civil military operations.
Paje iwill be working under former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Rolando Bautista who is DSWD Secretary.
He is the second former military man to join the DSWD in just a month. He follows Budiongan who was former assistant division commander of the Mechanized Infantry Division of the Philippine Army. Budiongan also served as assistant division commander from November 2016 to August 2018.
President Duterte earlier explained his inclination to appoint retired military officials to the government, saying they get things done right and quick.
Other military officials that the President has took in under his wing are former AFP chiefs Eduardo Año as Interior Secretary, Rey Guerrero as Customs Commissioner.
Duterte also appointed former AFP chief Roy Cimatu as Environment Secretary, and retired general Eduardo Del Rosario as Housing chief.
The President also named former police chief Isidro Lapeña to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) but later on moved him to head the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Duterte also tapped former marine captain Nicanor Faeldon to the BOC but was later on moved to head the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor). Both Faeldon and Lapeña's leadership at the BOC were tainted by illegal drug scandals.
Before Faeldon, President Duterte appointed former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald Dela Rosa to the BuCor but he later resigned to run for senator in the May 2019 polls.