‘Nothing wrong with appointing retired generals in Cabinet’

MANILA, Philippines — There is nothing wrong with the appointment of retired generals in key government positions, a lawmaker said yesterday.

Cebu 1st district Rep. Eduardo Gullas stressed that the practice of appointing retired generals – especially products of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) – is not new to presidents after the 1986 EDSA People Power revolution.

“What the President is doing – harnessing the services of highly qualified and disciplined men with extensive military training – is nothing new,” the lawmaker explained in a statement.

He said other presidents before Duterte also designated a number of retired generals to various senior government posts, including that of ambassador.

Gullas, a former governor and mayor, pointed out that presidents in big democracies like the US also appointed retired generals to civilian positions.

“If we look at America, West Point alumni now serve in various capacities both in government and in the private sector there, mostly as administrators. West Point graduates have been performing high purely civilian functions as chief executive officers of some of the largest corporations in America and as presidents of American universities,” he argued.

Gullas believed that the allegation of critics that Duterte has been “militarizing government” or “undermining civilian supremacy over the military” had no basis.

“To begin with, these retired generals are already civilians – just like everybody else – having been discharged from active military service,” he added. 

Gullas issued the statement after critics questioned Duterte’s continuous appointment of retired generals to key Cabinet posts – an issue that triggered a heated exchange with Sen. Richard Gordon.

Duterte recently appointed yet another PMA graduate, retired Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat, this time as member of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System’s governing board.

Other retired generals in the Cabinet are Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Eduardo del Rosario, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Danilo Lim, Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Carlito Galvez Jr.