MANILA (Reuters) -Philippines&nbsp;President&nbsp;Ferdinand Marcos Jr has appointed Gilberto Teodoro as&nbsp;defence&nbsp;minister, the&nbsp;presidential palace said in a statement on Monday.
Teodoro is a&nbsp;former&nbsp;lawmaker in the lower chamber of congress and also served as&nbsp;defence&nbsp;minister&nbsp;under&nbsp;former&nbsp;president&nbsp;Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. His reappointment comes at a time of increasing tensions in the South China Sea.
Teodoro replaces Carlito Galvez, a&nbsp;former&nbsp;military&nbsp;chief&nbsp;who has held the&nbsp;defence&nbsp;portfolio in an acting capacity since January.
Marcos also appointed Teodoro Herbosa, a medical advisor to the government's COVID-19 task force, as his first&nbsp;health&nbsp;minister.
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales;Editing by Gareth Jones and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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Philippine president reappoints former defence minister, chooses health chief