Outgoing Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said there are still no offers for him to serve under the Marcos administration in a civilian capacity after his retirement from the military.
In an interview with reporters at Camp Aguinaldo on Tuesday afternoon, Brawner said the offers he has received so far have come from the private sector.
“So far none. There are no offers,” said Brawner, who is set to complete on July 21 the maximum three-year term provided under Republic Act 11709.
“In fact, there are offers from the private sector. But from the government, there is no offer,” said Brawner, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1989.
Brawner was the third AFP chief appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The two others were now-retired Gens. Bartolome Bacarro and Andres Centino.
Bacarro was not appointed to any government position after his retirement. Centino, Brawner’s immediate predecessor, is currently serving as Presidential Assistant for Maritime Concerns.
Brawner said he is not currently thinking about job offers, noting that he is “excited to retire after 41 years, three months, and 20 days of service to the nation.”
“For me that’s already long, that’s 41 years. So I deserve to become a civilian, an ordinary citizen. So I’m looking forward to that,” Brawner said.
Several three-star generals and flag officers are qualified to succeed Brawner as AFP chief, including Army chief Lt. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura, and Navy chief Vice Admiral Jose Ma Ambrosio Ezpeleta.
Asked what advice he would give to his successor, Brawner said: “The most important thing is really to look at the whole situation and plan for the future because if you start acting once the threat is there, it’s too late.”
Brawner said the military, during his term, has already begun preparing to create a Space Center, which he said would eventually evolve into a Space Force or Space Command.
“Now, people may be asking why do we need that, we have no satellites. Now, if we wait for the time that we will have our own satellites, which we will in fact, we are already planning and we already have a budget for that,” Brawner said.
“If we will wait for the time when we actually acquire our satellites, it will be too late if thats the only time we create the unit. So as early as now, we are forming the unit,” he added.
Brawner said President Marcos has already provided funding for military satellites.
“In fact, this creation of the unit was ordered by the President during the December command conference. Why don’t you have your own satellites? So from that guidance, we started planning,” Brawner said.
He said the plans were presented to Marcos during Tuesday’s command conference at Camp Aguinaldo, which the President led.
“We presented it to him today, to the President today. It’s already in the works, the order given by the President last December. We are already doing it,” Brawner said.