MALACANANG announced Friday the appointment of retired military chief General Eduardo Año as Undersecretary of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the agency he will lead in 2018.
Duterte signed Año's appointment paper on October 26, the day Año ended his term as Chief-of-Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The President earlier announced his plan to appoint Año as the next head of DILG but the Local Government Act states that "no retired or resigned military officer of police official may be appointed as Secretary within one year from the date of his retirement."
On Thursday, Duterte considered Año to be his special assistant or to give him a post in the DILG to assist Local Government Acting Secretary Catalino Cuy.
"Either he takes the title of Special Assistant to the President or the Undersecretary whichever is tenable legally. And he will not supervise the Philippine National Police, together with General Lito Cuy," he said at the change of command rites at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
Año served as head of AFP for 10 months and was designated as martial law implementor in Mindanao after the Islamic State-affiliated Maute terrorists stormed Marawi City on May 23.
Under the former AFP chief’s leadership, the government troops successfully regained control of Marawi City.
Año, a graduate of Philippine Military Academy Class 1983, served as chief of the Army's 10th Infantry Division.
He also became the head of AFP's Intelligence Service when top communist leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon were arrested in March 2014. (VoxPop Philippines)
