黑料社

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday called on the Armed Forces of the Philippines under its new leader 鈥渢o ensure the security of Filipinos and the national sovereignty of our country.鈥�

Mr. Marcos made these remarks at a change of command ceremony in Camp Aguinaldo where Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. took over the military鈥檚 leadership from now retired general Andres Centino.

Malaca帽ang had announced on Wednesday Brawner鈥檚 appointment as the next AFP chief and Centino鈥檚 new designation as presidential adviser on the West Philippine Sea.

Mr. Marcos, in his speech, called on the military 鈥渢o work towards an armed forces that is agile and prepared for any contingency.鈥�

He urged the AFP to work with other government agencies as well as civilian stakeholders 鈥渢o form archipelagic consciousness amongst Filipinos.鈥�

鈥淭his will help champion our country鈥檚 territorial integrity and sovereignty,鈥� he said.

The President also directed Brawner to 鈥渞ecalibrate our internal security operation鈥� so that the government could deliver public services in isolated communities.

鈥淚 know your supervision will give rise to a safer and more secure nation where more rebels return to the fold of the law and decide to be productive citizens,鈥� Mr. Marcos said.

Under Republic Act No. 11939, which the President signed into law on May 17, Brawner will serve a fixed term of three years 鈥渦nless [that tenure is] sooner terminated by the President.鈥�

That law on the tour of duty and appointments of key AFP personnel serves to amend its earlier version, RA 11709, by extending to another year the retirement age of enlisted personnel, to 57.

鈥楿苍颈迟测鈥�

But RA 11709 also sets a fixed term of three years for military chiefs.

Brawner, in his speech, said the military would be guided by five areas under the acronym 鈥淯nity鈥濃�攗nification, normalization, internal security operations, territorial defense and the youth.

The acronym, which echoed Mr. Marcos鈥� slogan in his presidential campaign last year, had also been adopted by a predecessor of Brawner, retired Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro鈥攁lthough the latter鈥檚 鈥淯nity鈥� theme stood for unparalleled professionalism, noble utilization of resources, invigorating capability development, tenacity in sustaining gains and yearning for service excellence.

Brawner said he would focus on both internal security鈥攂y 鈥渄efeating the remaining local terrorist groups and the communist terrorist group to attain total victory鈥濃�攁nd external security, through which the AFP鈥檚 modernization will 鈥渆nable it to be a lethal and competent fighting force 鈥� defending our territory from external aggression.鈥�

The new AFP chief also cited several other priorities, such as securing peace in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and strengthening the Reserve Officers Training Corps program to develop the youth.

New job

Centino, explaining his new job at a press briefing on Thursday, said 鈥淲e have the National Task Force-West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS). But our leadership has deemed it important to give more focus and importance on the way we address the issues there in a bigger scale. That鈥檚 why they thought of creating an office of the presidential adviser.鈥�

But he gave no details as to when that office will be established.

It was the administration of the late President Benigno Aquino III that established the interagency NTF-WPS in March 2016, with the National Security Adviser designated as its chair.

RELATED STORY:

AFP to focus on cyber warfare 鈥� Brawner