Leader of Robredo search team now Wescom chief

MANILA, Philippines—Rear Admiral Alexander Lopez who led the search and retrieval operations for the crashed plane of Interior Secretary Jessie Robredo in 2012 assumed on Wednesday the leadership of the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Lopez took over the post from Lieutenant General Roy Deveraturda who has retired.

Lopez led the combined aerial and Marine forces that retrieved the body of Robredo after the latter died in a plane crash off Masbate in August 2012.

Returnee

Before becoming the 25th chief of Wescom, Lopez was once a commander of one of its Task Forces, the Task Force Malampaya.

“Coming home brings a such wonderful feeling as it offers the opportunity and privilege to work on some unfinished projects, so to speak,” Lopez said during his inauguration speech at the Wescom headquarters in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

Lopez hopes that he would rekindle the “friendship” with local officials and his friends in Wescom that he established when he was still the commander of Task Force Malampaya from 2011 to 2012.

Task Force Malampaya, a composite team from the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Air Force, was tapped to safeguard the Malampaya project.

Of nature and humanitarian law

Lopez assured his guests that as Wescom chief, their operations would be rooted in environmental protection and humanitarian law.

“The activities of the Western Command shall be derived from the political, socio-economic, and environmental dimensions of the Western Command’s mandate,” Lopez told his commander-in-chief President Benigno Aquino III, AFP Chief of Staff General Gregorio Pio Catapang and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.

“Your Armed Forces in Palawan, through the Western Command, shall be governed by the rule of law, the principles of International Humanitarian Law, and we shall be advocates of human rights.”

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