5 generals shortlisted for top Army post

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) disclosed on Sunday that five military generals were recommended by the Board of Generals to President Duterte to become the next commanding general of the more than 90,000-strong Philippine Army (PA).

This, as Lieutenant General Macairog Alberto, Army commanding general, is set to reach the mandatory retirement age of 56 for military officials on December 6.

Brigadier General Edgard Arevalo, AFP spokesman, said no announcement yet has been made as to who will be the successor of Alberto as of this writing.

"But the Board of Generals has forwarded a short list to the Commander-in-Chief through the Secretary of National Defense [Delfin Lorenzana]," Arevalo said.

Included in the list were three 3-star generals or lieutenant general/vice admiral and two 2-star generals or major general/rear admiral.

Arevalo refused to name the generals included in the shortlist.

However, he said that all of them "possess the attributes of integrity, comptence, experience, command and managerial expertise" to command the soldiers tasked to protect the people and secure the land.

The AFP spokesman said the formal announcement may happen sometime this week.

By tradition, seniority is usually being considered in choosing the next commander in a military post.

Currently, the military has more than 10 lieutenant generals in active service.