CA approves nominations of 3 senior AFP officers

The Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday approved the nominations of three senior officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The bicameral commission confirmed the nominations of new Philippine Army chief Major General Andres Centino to the rank of lieutenant general, Philippine Army Colonel Raul Villanueva to the rank of brigadier general, and Philippine Navy Captain Ruben Fajardo Jr. to the rank of commodore.

During the CA’s Committee on National Defense’s deliberation on Centino’s appointment, former Philippine National Police chief and now Senator Ronald Dela Rosa asked the new Army chief to “quantify and qualify” the impact of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to the government’s anti-insurgency efforts.

Centino said the creation of the task force has “hastened” the government efforts to address insurgency.

With the whole-of-government approach adopted by the NTF-ELCAC, he said, the AFP is now able to focus on their mandate to go after the communist rebels while other departments and agencies are in charge of helping the barangays in developing their respective areas.

“Our soldiers acted as teachers in the far-flung areas, they acted as engineers, as doctors, as dentists, to provide the services that were very much wanting in the far-flung areas, which the other agencies could not provide at that time,” he said.

“But with the NTF-ELCAC… all the other agents are actively participating and they were with the AFP personnel and the PNP, going to the most remote areas providing the needed services.  The AFP, the Philippine Army, particularly, their valuable time and focus to perform their core  mandate, doon na kami nakatutok sa trabaho naming habulin talaga ang armado [all of our time and attention are focused on going after the armed rebels],” he said.

Dela Rosa further asked the new Army chief of the possible repercussions should lawmakers defund the task force in 2022.

“In my belief, the security situation in these areas is hinged on the absence of government services. So itong pondo na gagamitin [The funds that will be used] is [meant] to address the root causes of insurgency at kung hindi ito ma-address [and if these are not addressed], in the event that the projects will not be implemented, the root causes will remain, thereby, perhaps the problem will continue to exist,” Centino said.

As the budget deliberations are set to begin in Congress, senators as early as now have hinted at the possibility of cutting the task force’s budget to fund other government programs that are needed amid the pandemic.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon had warned that the NTF-ELCAC’s budget next year might be used in “aid of election.”

Malacañang earlier defended the task force’s budget, arguing that communist insurgency is needed to be addressed even during the current health crisis. — BM/RSJ, GMA News