ZURICH — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Sunday that he reappointed General Andres Centino as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) "rationalize" the senior leadership of the military.

In a press briefing with Palace reporters en route to Switzerland, Marcos addressed for the first time the recent shakeup in the military leadership, which saw Centino replacing Lt. General Bartolome Vicente Bacarro.

Marcos appointed Bacarro as military chief only last August 2022. He was supposed to be the first AFP Chief to serve a fixed term of 3 years under Republic Act 11709.

“[N]irarationalize namin yung seniority. Kasi si General Andy Centino has 4 Stars. And Bob Bacarro has 3 Stars. Kailangan nating ayusin kasi magkakagulo doon sa baba,” President Marcos said.

(We are rationalizing the seniority. General Andy Centino has 4 Stars. And Bob Bacarro has 3 Stars. We need to fix that or else there will be chaos in the lower ranks.)

In reappointing Centino, the President said he consulted with members of the AFP. He also noted that recent developments in the AFP leadership have affected the military’s morale.

“There were some comments that were mentioned, ‘paano yan, kapag nag-extend extend, kami naman sa lower ranks wala na kaming pag-asa [ma-promote].’ Hindi naman tama yon, so malo-low morale sila. So tinignan namin, what do you want us to do? Nagtanong kami sa military. So ayusin namin ang seniority. That’s what we did,” he said.

(There were some comments that were mentioned, 'What if that is extended, we have no hope for a promotion. That is not right, they would have low morale. So we looked at what we could do, we asked the military. They said fix the seniority issue.)

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Meanwhile, Marcos said experience in government and military service prompted him to appoint former Duterte administration officials, Eduardo Año and Carlito Galvez, to key government posts in his administration.

Año replaced Secretary Clarita Carlos as National Security Adviser, after the latter tendered her resignation, saying “it is no longer politic” to stay in the post.

• Former DILG chief Año replaces Carlos as National Security Adviser

“Why Secretary Ed Ano? He has a long, long, long experience in intelligence. Before he became Chief of Staff, before he became commander, he was ISAFP (Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines). So sanay na sanay yan, and he is well known and he knows all the operatives in the intelligence,” the President said in the same briefing.

Marcos also expressed confidence that former Galvez would perform his duties well as Secretary of National Defense.

“Yan, isa pa, very very experienced. And in fact as soon as he took his oath, he knew already, nag-command conference na sya, and I think he will slide into the position really easily,” he said.

Galvez’s appointment to the Department of National Defense came after Officer-In-Charge Renato Faustino quit his post following the AFP leadership change.

• Ex-DND chief resigned after seeing AFP movement on social media
• Palace says Faustino knew about Centino's appointment as AFP chief

Marcos added that he directed Galvez to submit a shortlist of candidates as his replacement in the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, a position which the Chief Executive considers critical in the ongoing transition of the Bangsamoro region.

“OPAPP, of course the now Sec Charlie Galvez, we’ll certainly be asking him to make a shortlist for OPAPP, especially now that the Bangsamoro is in transition. We’re redefining the relationship, for example, between BARMM and the local governments so that’s very critical that we have the person in OPAPP who can continue the work that Charlie Galvez is doing," the President said.

• Defense chief Galvez asks senior officials to 'stay in place' after resignations