New AFP chief vows to take ‘the path of peace’

President Rodrigo Duterte with the incoming AFP chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., during the Change of Command Ceremony at the AFP Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo in Queozn City on Wednesday, April 18, 2018. (Photo by JOAN BONDOC / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The newly-installed Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., a Mindanao battlefield veteran, vowed to pursue the path of peace as he formally assumed the top military post on Wednesday.

“Warriors that we soldiers may be, we shall always prefer to take the path of peace. We have been supportive of government’s peace initiatives. And we will continue that quest,” he said in his assumption speech at the AFP Change of Command Ceremony in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

As chief of the Western Mindanao Command, Galvez played a key role in ending the five-month siege in carried out by ISIS-inspired terrorists in Marawi City last year. But he is also known as a peace advocate for supporting the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“As your chief of staff, I take this opportunity to reiterate our full support to peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front. We look forward to the final, peaceful, and equitable resolution of the conflict in Mindanao,” he said.

But while he preferred the path of peace, he said the AFP would not hesitate to use its might “when innocent civilians are threatened and attacked.”

Galvez vowed to defeat the Abu Sayyaf and all other local terrorist groups, including the communist New People’s Army.

The new AFP chief, a member of the Philippine Military Academy “Sandiwa” Class of 1985, will serve for eight months. He is scheduled to retire on Dec. 12, 2018.

The AFP change of command was led by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Galvez replaced AFP chief Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero, who will soon head the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina). /atm