A graduate of the Philippine Military Academy "Sandiwa" class of 1985, he is known for his leadership of the AFP Western Mindanao Command during the Battle of Marawi and is a recipient of the United States Eisenhower Fellowships in 2006 and worked on the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2015 as co-Chairman on the Government of the Philippines Coordinating Committees on the Cessation of Hostilities (GPH-CCCH). In 1989, then a lieutenant, he participated in a failed coup attempt against President Corazon Aquino. Galvez and his coup co-conspirators were detained before being granted amnesty in 1996 by Aquino's successor, President Fidel Ramos.