From Malaya (Jan 10): AFP chief leads star-studded field due to retire this year
http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/news/afp-chief-leads-star-studded-field-due-retire-year
THE 120,000-strong military establishment will virtually have a new face this year with the impending retirement of Armed Forces chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista and eight three-star generals and flag officers, including the heads of the major service commands.
Bautista, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1981, will reach the mandatory retirement age of 56 on July 20. He assumed the top military post in January last year.
The eight three-star officers due for retirement includes Army chief Lt. Gen. Noel Coballes (PMA ’80), Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Lauro Catalino dela Cruz (PMA ’80), and Navy chief Vice Adm. Jose Luis Alano (PMA’79).
Coballes is retiring on February 7, Dela Cruz on April 30 and Alano on May 1.
Bautista said the military establishment has started the selection process for Coballes’ successor.
The other ranking military officers due for retirement this year are AFP vice chief Lt. Gen. Alan Luga of PMA ’81, on May 12; Western Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda of the Air Force Flying School ’80 (Aug. 17); Southern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Caesar Ronnie Ordoyo, PMA’80 (Sept. 8); Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz, PMA ’80 (Sept. 6); and PMA superintendent Vice Adm. Edgar Abogado of PMA Class ’80 (Feb. 16).
The only hierarchy leader and area commanders not retiring this year are AFP deputy chief of staff Lt. Gen. Virgilio Domingo of PMA Class ’81; Northern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang PMA’81; Central Command chief Maj. Gen. John Bonafos, PMA ’83; and Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, of PMA Class ’81.
“They will not be retiring at the same time; they will be retiring on different dates so the transition will be undertaken within the system of change of command,” said AFP spokesman Maj. Gen. Domingo Tutaan.
Tutaan said the retirement of Bautista and other top officials will not negatively affect the military because the military’s thrusts and programs, including the Internal Peace and Security Plan Bayanihan, are in place.
The IPSP Bayanihan, the military’s blueprint in winning peace, aims to end all internal security threats on or before the end of the President Aquino’s term in 2016. The military began implementing the campaign plan in January 2011.
“We will continue what has been started as far as programs are concerned...The new commanders will complement what we are doing right now,” said Tutaan, referring to the officers who will be succeeding the soon-to-be retiring officials.
Tutaan said the retirements will not hamper the execution of military thrusts and programs because those who will rise up in the military ladder are not new to the organization.
“We have been working hand in hand with them. They are not from the outside, who will come in and do not know anything about what is being undertaken. They’ve been here long before,” he said.
http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/news/afp-chief-leads-star-studded-field-due-retire-year