Use 'extended tenure': Galvez bares proposed amendment to AFP term law

Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. revealed Monday, Jan. 23, that the DND has suggested to legislators to remove the fixed term of senior officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as mandated by Republic Act No. 11709, a law enacted by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s predecessor – Rodrigo Duterte.

Instead, Galvez said that senior officers shall have an “extended tenure of service” so that the sitting President can extend or not the term of senior officers as he or she pleases.

“We will already remove the term ‘fixed term.’ Instead, we will use ‘extended tenure of service’ ‘yon na ang gagamitin natin (that’s what we will use),” Galvez said during the DND’s flag-raising ceremony at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Galvez explained that when senior officers are appointed to key posts, they usually have at least one year remaining in their career before they retire. He said the President may then exercise his or her power to extend the officials’ term “without the restrictions of the law.”

“Maganda ang magiging flexibility because it will not tied up or even diminish ‘yung powers ng Presidente to remove officers (There will be flexibility because it will not tied up or even diminish the powers of the President to remove officers),” the DND chief said.

“Key officials like us, we are here with (sic) the trust and confidence of the President. If the trust and confidence of the President has been removed or is gone, he can immediately replace,” he continued.

Galvez said the Senate, led by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, has expressed support to the proposed amendment by the DND.

“Kung ma-adopt ‘yon, magiging flexible ‘yong career management ng ating officers (If that is adopted, the career management of our officers will be flexible),” he noted.

The change was among the proposed amendments suggested by the DND to tweak the controversial law that is blamed as the root cause of the reported rumblings and dissatisfaction of troops within the military.

RA 11709 was enacted on July 1, 2022 to strengthen the professionalism and promote the continuity of policies and modernization initiatives in the AFP by mandating a fixed tour of duty of up to 14 senior officers and eliminating the revolving door policy, or the quick change of leadership, in the military.

Among those given a fixed three-year term are the AFP chief of staff, vice chief of staff, deputy chief of staff; the commanding generals of the Philippine Army and Philippine Air Force, and flag officer in command of the Philippine Navy; commanders of unified commands; and the inspector general.

But Galvez said the implementation of the law resulted to unintended consequences which, if left unaddressed, may cause stagnation in the promotion cycle of the armed forces and demoralization of troops.

“It gave the AFP senior officers... parang narestrain or naclamp ang mga kamay nila (it’s as if they were restrained or their hands were clamped) in order to place the best among the qualified in certain areas,” he said.

Right now, Galvez said that the military has “high morale” once again as there were visible efforts to fix the law by proposing significant amendments to it.