The Commission on Appointments yesterday confirmed the appointment of Gen. Felimon T. Santos Jr. as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Santos, the seventh AFP chief of staff under the Duterte administration, was confirmed during the plenary session of the bicameral body presided over by Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III, concurrent CA chairman.
Sen. Joel Villanueva moved for Santos’ confirmation during a public hearing to determine his fitness and competence to head the country’s armed service.
The public hearing was conducted by Rep. Luis A. Ferrer IV, chairman of the CA national defense committee.
Also confirmed was Luzviminda Almazan Camacho, the first woman commodore in the Philippine Navy.
Queried by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on the decision of President Duterte to abrogate the 21-year-old PH-US Visiting Forces Agreement, Santos told the CA committee that the AFP gave the pros and cons of the issue of abrogating the agreement to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Lorenzana had earlier told the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that the country’s military establishment received $1.2-billion worth of aid and other benefits from the US because of the VFA since 1998.
Santos told the CA committee that the country received $127 million in various forms from the US through the VFA in 2018 and $91 million last year.
Since the abrogation of the VFA will become final in 180 days, Sen. Francis Tolentino asked Santos if it is possible that the US could be persuaded to leave behind military and equipment for calamities already pre-positioned in the country because these have budgetary implications, Santos replied: ‘’I will do that.’’
He said that for 2020, the Philippines and the US have 318 activities and this includes 10 major exercises.
But the regular “Balikatan’’ joint military exercise will be still covered by the VFA which automatically terminates after 180 days from the day the formal abrogation notice was transmitted.
‘’Others will not be terminated anymore because they will be beyond the 180 days. For the training actually, we are not the only one gaining from the training. It is also the US soldiers who are gaining skills from us considering that we are one of the most experienced foot soldiers with our experience in Marawi, in counter-insurgency, and other internal problems,’’ he said. (Mario Casayuran)
