Eight agencies placed under 3 departments

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the transfer of eight agencies under the Office of the Cabinet Secretary to three departments, two of which are headed by retired military officials.

Through Executive Order No. 67, Duterte transferred eight agencies to the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Interior and Local Government, and Department of Social Welfare and Development—the DILG and DSWD are currently headed by former military generals.

The reorganization of the agencies under the Office of the Cabinet Secretary comes as former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Rey Leonardo Guerrero takes the helm of the Bureau of Customs.

The president has explained his preference for appointing former military officers to government posts, saying he prefers them because they follow orders and get things done.

He has pointed to the closure, subsequent reopening and continued rehabilitation of Boracay island to make his point.

The DILG and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, key agencies in the cleanup of the island, are led by former military generals.

Duterte's EO 67 effectively revamped the Office of the Cabinet Secretary as it ordered the transfers of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the Cooperative Development Authority to the DTI; National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, Philippine Commission on Women and the National Youth Commission to the DILG; and National Anti-Poverty Commission, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor to the DSWD.

The DTI is led by Secretary Ramon Lopez, while retired soldiers Eduardo Año and Rolando Bautista head the DILG and DSWD, respectively.

Liza Maza, former lead convenor of NAPC, said on her Facebook account that the reshuffling is a "horror story."

Duterte, in a speech late Wednesday night, admitted there is indeed a “militarization” of the government.

"They say it's militarization of the government, [they are] correct," the president said.

Aside from the appointment of former generals to government agencies, the president earlier said that troops would “take over” corruption-ridden Bureau of Customs although his spokespersons have since clarified that the military would only be there to help.

The 1987 Constitution states: "No member of the armed forces in the active service shall, at any time, be appointed or designated in any capacity to a civilian position in the Government, including government-owned or controlled corporations or any of their subsidiaries."

Guerrero, who was head of the Maritime Industry Authority before moving to the BOC, has assured the public there would be no militarization in the agency.

“There will be personnel from the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] that would support the BOC but that does not mean that the BOC would be taken over by the military because, clearly, I'm civilian and I am the head of the agency," he said.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo has justified the pending AFP "takeover" of Customs by saying that the massive corruption at the bureau constitutes "lawless violence."

While Panelo claimed that corruption at the bureau equates to the "lawless violence" that prompted Duterte to declare a state of national emergency in September 2016 and which, he said, would justify sending soldiers to the Bureau of Customs, other lawyers disagree. Law professor and legal expert Tony La Viña said that corruption is not lawless violence.

"They cannot do anything there unless there's war, rebellion or lawless violence where people are killing each other," La Viña said.