The consecutive shuffling of top positions in DND, NSC and AFP as well as within the 9th IDPA assigned in Bikol has a direct connection with Marcos regime’s bid to bolster military dominance over civilian bureaucracy. These newly-assigned officials possess a common character. All of them serve as leading fascist instruments of the state and as protectors of the ruling classes’ self-interests.

Like his tyrant predecessor Duterte, Marcos Jr. fills his government and the AFP leadership with tried and tested militarists and mercenaries loyal to him. For him, this is part of his attempt to preserve himself in power and ensure that he can rely on an armed force ready to do his bidding. But for the rest of the Filipino nation, this equates to worsening human rights violations and the escalation of the fascist state’s war against the people.

Carlito Galvez has been assigned to lead DND. Galvez previously served as Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity and has been one of the foremost impediments of the peacetalks as secretray of the incontinent Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU). He rose to infamy as commander of the Western Mindanao Command, the unit responsible for the widespread destruction of Marawi, the massive bombing and devastation of numerous communities in Mindanao and the long list of crimes against the masses during the martial law in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Eduardo Año replaced the civilian Dr. Clarita Carlos as National Security Adviser with the latter serving for a mere seven months. As secretary of DILG, Año became notorious for masterminding attacks against progressive organizations and the revolutionary movement. He let the PNP and other attached agencies loose with their syndicate criminal activities and brutal suppression of the masses. He divested local government units of their independence and forced them to succumb to NTF-ELCAC’s anti-people policies.

At the same time, amidst negative talks and undertones of internal disintegration, Gen. Andres Centino has been returned as AFP Chief-of-Staff. Since 2021, under Duterte, when Centino was first assigned to the said post, he led the intensification of AFP’s counterinsrugency campaign that resulted to a staggering volume of bombing incidents and massive destruction, massacres and killings and other bloody crimes against the Filipino people. As 4th IDPA Commander operating in the Caraga region, he led the AFP strategy of erecting forward military bases in mountainous areas to disrupt the movement and hunt for NPA presence. In actual execution of said strategy, numerous civilians and communities were victimized by his unit’s thirst for carnage.

Even the leadership of 9th IDPA in Bikol was reshuffled. Maj. Gen. Adonis Bajao has been assigned to the top position. Some of his previous posts before this include being part of the 10th ID’s Joint Task Force General Santos and 8th ID assistant chief of staff for civil-military operations.

However, no matter how many times Marcos Jr. shuffle the cogs of his fascist machinery, he cannot prevent it from eventual failure. All units of NPA in Bikol and the entire country, along with the revolutionayr movement and the masses in struggle, remain and will remain steadfast in combatting the enemy’s fascism until the very end.