CA confirms appointment of new Armed Forces chief
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2020 06:45:01 +0000
THE bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) has unanimously confirmed the appointment of Felimon Santos Jr. as four-star general and chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Santos, the seventh AFP chief under the Duterte administration, was confirmed during the plenary session of the bicameral body presided by Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd, concurrent CA chairman.
Senator Joel Villanueva moved for Santos’ confirmation during a public hearing to determine his fitness and competence to head the country’s armed forces.
Rep. Luis Ferrer 4th, chairman of the CA national defense committee, conducted the public hearing.
Also confirmed was Luzviminda Almazan Camacho, the first woman commodore in the Philippine Navy.
Questioned by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to abrogate the 21-year-old Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Santos told the CA committee that the AFP gave the pros and cons of the issue of abrogating the VFA to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Lorenzana had told the Senate foreign relations committee 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. JAVIER JOE ISMAEL