Duterte on appointing military to Cabinet: ‘Isang utos lang, nagagawa’

President Rodrigo Duterte shrugged off criticisms that he is militarizing his Cabinet, saying that he prefers former service personnel because they obey orders without debating them.

"[T]here are misgivings among the senators and congressmen that I am appointing another ex-military man in the cabinet. I will tell you now, in my years in service sa gobyerno, alam mo ang bureaucracy—and I don’t mean to offend them—not all, but ang iba kasi if you want a decision right there and then marami kasing debatihin ka pa. That is what they do. They debate with you and tomorrow nandyan na naman, daldal ng daldal," Duterte said in an interview with Palace reporters on Tuesday.

He added that with former military officers, "Gusto ko talaga kasi isang utos lang, nagagawa."

He made the remark amid criticisms of his looming appointment of Army Chief Rolando Bautista as Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) once the general retires from military service on October 15.

Duterte cited some examples. “Just like Cimatu. I said fix Boracay in months’ time. Sabi ko kay Del Rosario, gawan mo ako ng bahay, about 100 in one month. Nagawa. May problema? Sometimes, they cut corners, but you just have to defend them because it’s your order and the government is really, really, really slow,” Duterte added.

Roy Cimatu, a former Armed Forces Chief, serves as the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Based on Task Force Boracay records, only 70 percent of the main roads in Boracay will be fixed by the time the island reopens on October 26.

Likewise, only 25 out of 430 hotels, which is only good for 2,000 rooms, will be available by October 26.

Retired General Eduardo Del Rosario, meanwhile, heads the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and Task Force Bangon Marawi.

The task force, however, has rescheduled its groundbreaking rites for the start of rehabilitation work in the war-torn city eight times as of September.

Former DSWD Chief Judy Taguiwalo and Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon earlier warned that Bautista would be an ill fit for the DSWD.

Former military officers serving under the Duterte administration include:

• Rey Leonardo Guerrero - former AFP Chief of Staff, now head of the Maritime Industry Authority
• Eduardo Año - former AFP Chief of Staff, now officer-in-charge of the Department of the Interior and Local Government
• Delfin Lorenzana - retired general, now Defense Secretary
• Hermogenes Esperson - former AFP Chief of Staff, now National Security Adviser
• Danilo Lim - retired brigadier general, now Chairperson of the Metro Manila Development Authority
• Nicanor Faeldon - former Marine captain, now Undersecretary at the Office of Civil Defense
• Milo Maestrecampo - former Army captain, now Assistant Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines
• Gerardo Gambala - former Army captain, now Director of the Office of Transportation Security

— Llanesca T. Panti/BM, GMA News