Aquino issues 1st marching order to new AFP chief

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. (left) turns over command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to the new military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri (right) in the presence of their Commander in Chief, during ceremonies held at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, on Friday. Behind are Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and former President Fidel Ramos. RAFFY LERMA

President Benigno Aquino III has chosen a son of Mindanao to be the new head of the country’s Armed Forces.

And the first instructions he gave to Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri: Ensure that the 2016 elections are clean and peaceful.

Mr. Aquino has credited Iriberri for the peaceful midterm elections in Abra in 2013 where he was the brigade commander. For the first time in decades, there was no bloodshed in the province, where elections have traditionally been marred by assassinations.

“Under his and his men’s guard, no village in Abra declared a failure of elections for the very first time and there was no election-related violence recorded in the province,” Mr. Aquino said Friday. He said the same thing when he appointed Iriberri Army chief 17 months ago.

Abra, an election hot spot, saw its most peaceful elections ever that year. For the first time since 1978, Abra was not placed under the control of the Commission on Elections and no candidates were killed during the election period.

The province also posted an 83 percent voters turnout, the highest in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

Second Mindanaoan

Iriberri, who is from Surigao del Sur, took over the reins of the AFP from Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. who retired Friday.

He is only the second military chief to come from strife-torn Mindanao, out of the 46 generals who have held the post since independence.

The first Mindanaoan AFP chief was retired Gen. Alexander Yano of Zamboanga del Norte.

Yano told the Inquirer that being a military chief from Mindanao is significant because it is about a soldier who grew up knowing and living amid conflict.

The changing regional security landscape, largely brought about by the South China Sea maritime dispute, makes it imperative for the Philippines to put an end to the threat of terrorism and decades-long insurgency problems, he said.

“Let us remember: The elections are near. It is part of your task to ensure that when our countrymen choose their next leader, it will be a peaceful and clean process,” the President said in his speech at the turnover of command ceremony, which was held indoors at Camp Aguinaldo on Friday because of bad weather.

“It is in this way that [the military] can repay the support and care given to you by the Filipino people, our bosses,” Mr. Aquino added.

Iriberri, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1983, will retire on April 22, 2016. But because appointments ban would be in place by the time he retires, high-level sources believe Mr. Aquino would either extend his term or appoint the AFP vice chief of staff as acting AFP chief.

The President also challenged Iriberri to sustain the good work done by Catapang and previous AFP chiefs, and raise even further the quality of service given by the military to the people.

He also thanked Catapang for serving the AFP well. Catapang was conferred the Philippine Legion of Honor, the highest honor that the President may grant an individual without the concurrence of Congress.

In his acceptance speech, Iriberri said the military would prepare as early as now to ensure peaceful and orderly elections in 2016.

He said the elections would be one of his five priorities. Iriberri said what the AFP and the Philippine National Police achieved in the Abra elections in 2013 would be “our yardstick for success in performing our duties in the 2016 elections.”

Iriberri said his four other priorities were putting an end to the communist insurgency by 2016; improving the AFP as an organization through the AFP transformation road map; implement the country’s national policies; and the AFP modernization program.

He stressed the need to improve joint and combined operational capabilities and readiness in responding to natural and man-made calamities, noting the AFP’s partnership with local and foreign partners in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Attention to military

Iriberri also thanked President Aquino for his all-out support for the AFP modernization program.

“After a very long time, it is only now that our soldiers have handled and used modern weapons. It is only right that we repay the country with loyalty and unparalleled service,” he said.

In his five years as President and Commander in Chief, Mr. Aquino has given remarkable attention to the military, one of the weakest in Asia, pouring in money to upgrade its capability.

In his speech, Mr. Aquino said that through good governance and the anticorruption drive in the past five years, the government was able to acquire the materiel that Filipino soldiers only once dreamed of, such as the BRP Gregorio del Pilar and BRP Ramon Alcaraz, as well as the BRP Tagbanua, the very first landing craft made in the Philippines.

The government also acquired three AW-109 naval helicopters, field ambulances and 1 ¼- and 2½-ton troop carrier trucks, he said.

In addition, the government is set to procure 36 projects worth P90.46 billion, he said. These include 12 fighter/surface attack/lead-in fighter trainer aircraft (FA-50) and basing support; six close air support aircraft; eight combat utility helicopters, two long-range patrol aircraft and basing support; two C-130 aircraft; and two frigates.

“I want to emphasize that it was not by chance that we had money to purchase these. We have been spending public money correctly. That is why we have had many benefits,” Mr. Aquino said.

He also noted how government ensured decent housing for soldiers and an increase in the subsistence allowance, and that soldiers received the Productivity Enhancement Incentive that he signed in May.

“It is clear that in the straight path, government has given you what you deserve, you who are ready to sacrifice your lives during times of disaster, the threat of terrorism or contagious diseases, and when there are those who want to claim our territory as theirs,” he said.