Carlito Galvez Jr.’s official title as the head of the Department of National Defense (DND) was finally made clear on Saturday, Feb. 18, when he was introduced by Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as a “senior undersecretary.”

Galvez was tasked to give the introductory speech to welcome Marcos as the guest of honor and speaker at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Alumni Homecoming at Fort del Pilar in Baguio City. Galvez, of the PMA Class 1985, was named as one of the eight recipients of the Cavalier Pandemic Heroes Award by the PMA Alumni Association Inc. (PMAAAI) for serving as the vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 during the pandemic outbreak in 2020.

After Galvez’ short introduction of Marcos, the Commander-in-Chief acknowledged him: “Thank you, Senior USec. Carlito Galvez Jr.”

This finally confirmed that Galvez has been leading the DND as its Officer-in-Charge (OIC), which is the same title held by his predecessor, resigned DND OIC Jose Faustino Jr.

According to the Civil Service Commission (CSC), Section 13 (c) of the 2017 Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Action (Revised 2018) states that officials who are designated as Officer-in-Charge “enjoy limited powers which are confined to functions of the administration and ensuring that the office continues its usual activities.”

Despite this, Galvez previously stated that he does not mind whether he is appointed as a Secretary or only as OIC with the title Senior Undersecretary by Marcos.

“It doesn’t matter. What’s important is we put leadership in the DND so that they will be seamless and stable. The position or the designation is not important for me. Ang importante nandiyan ako on top of the DND (What’s important is I’m on top of the DND),” he said in an interview with reporters on Jan. 23.

Prior to this, Malacanang had announced on Jan. 9 that Marcos appointed Galvez to lead the DND as its Secretary following the resignation of Faustino due to the abrupt changes in the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). However, rumors that Galvez was given by Marcos only the title “senior undersecretary” circulated later that month.

Galvez refused to confirm such rumor and up until Feb. 8, the DND and AFP have been referring to Galvez as the DND Secretary.

But come Feb. 9, Galvez was introduced by the DND and AFP as the DND OIC with the title Senior Undersecretary when he joined the Philippine contingent during the state visit of Marcos in Japan, creating confusion as to his official designation. The same introduction was repeated on Feb. 13 when Galvez attended the ground-breaking ceremony of the Metro Manila Subway Project at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.