Eduardo Año is new Army chief

Major General Eduardo Año is the new chief of the 85,000-strong Philippine Army.

Año, former commander of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division of the Eastern Mindanao Command, replaced Lieutenant General Hernando Iriberri, who was appointed as the new chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Friday.

READ: Hernando Iriberri is new AFP chief | The rapid rise of Iriberri to AFP leadership

President Benigno Aquino III led the change of command ceremony on Wednesday morning at the Philippine Army Wellness Center in Taguig City.

Like his predecessor, Año was a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1983.

As former head of the 10th Infantry Division, Año led the operation that killed New People’s Army commander Leoncio Pitao on June 28.

He was also the head of AFP’s Intelligence Service when top Communist Party of the Philippines leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon were arrested in March 2014.