Aquino issues 1st marching order to new AFP chief

Protecting the soldiers

In his speech, Iriberri also thanked the soldiers of the Philippine Army, which he served as the 56th commanding general, 17 months prior to his appointment as military chief.

At the beginning of his speech, Iriberri read a letter to the soldiers, in which he said he could not accept the post of leading the 125,000-member AFP without expressing his gratitude for his men’s dedication.

In an interview following the change of command ceremony, the new AFP chief said he wanted more protective equipment for the soldiers to reduce the number of casualties or wounded in the battlefield.

“I want to give more attention to actually protecting our soldiers,” he said.

He said that from 2014 to date, 280 soldiers from the Army alone were killed in action while 908 were wounded in battle.

His men would not have died, he stressed, if only they had the right protective equipment such as helmets and body armor.

“But because of constraints, they could not have it, so many had to die,” he said.

Reprioritizing AFP budget

He said he has proposed the reprioritization of the military budget for “mission essential equipment” of troops to protect them as they go into battle and carry out their duties.

Citing his experience as former Army commanding general, Iriberri said the Army got P9.5 billion out of the P95 billion set aside for AFP modernization.

Of the P9.5 billion, only a third, or P3 billion, went to upgrading the military’s war-fighting capability, he said. Protective equipment is not yet included in that allocation, he said.

Iriberri said the military had pending proposals for force protection equipment but declined to go into details.

He declined to comment on the territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea, saying it was the subject of arbitration in The Hague.

“Let us wait first for the results of the hearing,” he said.

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