Panelo: Retiring AFP chief to be appointed to OPAPP

FILE: AFP Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez (Photo: PTV/website)

Retiring military chief, General Carlito Galvez, Jr. may not be leaving the government yet as President Rodrigo Duterte will appoint him to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), the Palace said Wednesday, December 5.

“The President announced his intention to appoint General Carlito Galvez, Jr. to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

Panelo added Duterte announced his plan during the 32nd Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday night, December 4, at the Aguinaldo State Dining Room in Malacañang.

The spokesman issued his statement, following the resignation of former Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza, who left his post after the Chief Executive fired two officials in the OPAPP — Undersecretary Ronald Flores and Assistant Secretary Yeshton Donn Baccay — due to corruption allegations.

Panelo, however, did not clarify if the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) outgoing chief will replace Dureza as Duterte’s new top peace official.

Galvez, who will be retiring on December 12, earlier said he wants to serve as a peace consultant after his retirement.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri previously said Dureza was a “very difficult” person to replace as he was the “key component to the peace process in Mindanao.”

The lawmaker, who sponsored the Senate version of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), said he still wants Dureza to head the OPAPP but if the latter decided not to come back, he will recommend Galvez to take over the position.

“He was with us during discussions in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law at doon ko nakita kung gaano siya kalapit sa MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) at iba pang armed groups, pati sa BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters) (that was when I saw how close he is to MILF and other armed groups, including BIFF),” Zubiri said.

“Siya mismo nagsasabi na ayaw niya ng giyera, gusto niya kapayapaan (He himself said he does not want war, he wants peace),” he added.

In a previous interview with ABS-CBN News, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison claimed that Duterte would like the military to “take over” the OPAPP and “militarize” it, but the Palace had denied such allegation.