Tonight, the country has a new Minister of Defence, and it's a familiar face. After more than 24 hours of deliberation, the Prime Minister has taken up the portfolio himself - on an interim basis.
This follows yesterday's announcement that former Defence Minister Florencio Marin is taking a 90-day leave of absence amid an ongoing ministry audit. In reality, the PM sidelined Marin after this station exposed reports that, between 2021 and 2025, Marin allegedly steered supply contracts to favoured, well-connected companies.
Sources say the PM and his advisors scrambled to find an interim replacement. But after exhaustive deliberation, the PM ran out of viable options and decided to take the reins himself.
So a release this afternoon announced that he will serve as Minister of National Defence and Border Security in the interim while an audit of the Ministry of Defence is ongoing. The Prime Minister was also holding the Foreign Affairs portfolio, which the returning Francis Fonseca has now taken back up.
Other configurations were considered for the Defence portfolio including shifting Ramon "Monchi" Cervantes but as we will reveal later in this newscast, Cervantes is also linked to one of the BDF's top ration suppliers.
