Duterte to appoint another retired military general in PNOC

November 29, 2019

President Rodrigo Duterte said he would appoint another retired military officer to a government post.

In an interview with reporters on Thursday night in Malacanang, the Chief Executive did not name yet the person, but he said he would appoint him to the Philippine National Oil Company.

"As you can see, almost all my Cabinet members now are from the military. There's one coming up. There's a vacancy in one office at PNOC. I'm going to appoint another general there, retiring," he said.

Last October, Duterte asked Pedro A. Aquino, president and chief executive officer of state-run PNOC-Exploration Corporation, to quit from his post.

The order came after Aquino reportedly signed an agreement with a Russian firm without the approval of the PNOC-EC board and nod of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.

Duterte  said he is more comfortable with former military men being appointed to government posts because "corruption is less."

He added that whenever he orders to do a job, they finished it without complaining. 

More than half of Duterte's Cabinet members and other appointees in juicy positions are retired military officials, such as Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, Interior and Local Government Eduardo Ano, Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. Celerina Monte/DMS