Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. (left) and Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro /PHOTO Police Regional Office 1 & Southern Luzon Command, AFP
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has picked Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. to head the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Medal of Valor Awardee Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro as the new chief-of-staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles made the announcement Monday.
Azurin is currently the commander of the Northern Luzon Police Area, which covers the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley Region, Central Luzon Region, and the Cordillera Administrative Region.
The newly-appointed police chief also previously served as commander of the Southern Luzon Police Area.
“Azurin is a well-rounded police officer, having served the PNP in various capacities, both in police operations and administrative work,” the Office of the Press Secretary said in a press release.
New AFP chief-of-staff
Marcos also picked Bacarro as the new chief-of-staff of the AFP, said Cruz-Angeles.
The press secretary said the change of command for the new AFP chief of staff would be on August 8.
“This will give time for Gen. Bacarro to wind down at the SOLCOM (Southern Luzon Command) and provide him with the transition to his new position in Camp Aguinaldo,” Cruz-Angeles said in a statement.
Bacarro, currently the commander of the AFP-SOLCOM, is an alumnus of the Philippine Military Academy who graduated in the upper quartile of the “Maringal” Class of 1988.
Cruz-Angeles also pointed out that Bacarro will be the first chief-of-staff of the AFP to be given a fixed three-year term, citing the Republic Act No. 11709 signed by former President Rodrigo Duterte.
R.A. 11709 sets a fixed three-year tour of duty for the AFP chief of staff, vice chief of staff, the deputy chief of staff, the major service commanders, unified command commanders, and inspector general “unless sooner terminated by the President.”
Bacarro received the country’s highest military award for combat, the Medal of Valor, after leading an operation to repel a communist guerrilla attack in Isabela in 1991.
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