President Aquino promotes ex-security aide

President Benigno Aquino III has appointed as head of the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) a senior Army officer who served in the Presidential Security Group (PSG) during the term of his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino.

Maj. Gen. Jessie Dellosa, current commander of the 2nd Infantry Division, will formally assume his new post on Friday morning.

He replaces Lt. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan Jr., his classmate in the Philippine Military Academy, Class 1979, who will reach the mandatory military retirement age of 56 on July 25.

In the PSG, Dellosa served as close-in aide to the young Benigno Aquino III who is now the President.

During his mother’s term in 1986-1992, the young Mr. Aquino saw three of his PSG guards killed and he was ambushed and nearly killed himself during the August 1987 coup attempt.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, who headed the PSG during the Corazon Aquino administration, and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. will preside over the command turnover ceremonies at Nolcom headquarters in Camp Servillano Aquino, Tarlac City.

Dellosa is touted as a leading contender for AFP chief of staff when Oban, of PMA Class ‘78, retires in December.

Before he was appointed commander of the 2nd ID based in Tanay, Rizal, Dellosa was deputy commander of the AFP Central Command and PMA commandant.

He also served as commander of the 302nd Brigade; chief of staff of the 4th ID; officer in charge of the AFP Office of Ethical Standards and Public Accountability, and assistant chief of staff for operations of the 1st ID.