Iriberri put on line as next AFP chief

 

 

Iriberri got his third star from Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin in a simple ceremony at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City yesterday.

 

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato said the President promoted Iriberri based on the recommendation of the AFP’s Board of Generals. The recommendation is actually ministerial because the post of Army chief is a three-star position.

 

The promotion of Iriberri, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1983, came almost two months after he assumed command of the 85,000-strong Philippine Army, replacing the now retired Lt. Gen. Noel Coballes.

 

Iriberri’s promotion makes him more qualified to become Armed Forces chief. All officers who have who have been named AFP chief in recent years hold the rank of lieutenant general.

 

Some quarters in the AFP have criticized the designation of Iriberri -- who is said to be close to Gazmin -- as Army chief primarily because more senior military officers were bypassed in the selection.

 

Iriberri served as senior military assistant to Gazmin when the latter assumed as defense secretary in July 2010. 

 

Iriberri also served as Army spokesman when Gazmin was Army chief in 1999.

 

 

Another contender is AFP Central Command chief Maj. Gen. John Bonafos (PMA Class 1982). He assumed the post of Central Command chief in December last year and is expected to be promoted to the higher rank because his post is a three-star position.

 

Like Iriberri, Catapang and Bonafos are Army officers while Guerrero is from the Marines. The last Marine officer designated as AFP chief is now Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, in the 1980s. 

 

 

President Aquino has also reassigned several senior officers because of the retirement of officials, including 5th Infantry Maj. Gen. Joel Ybañez who bowed out of the service more than a year before he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56.

 

The reassignment order took effect March 28.

 

Detoyato said Ybañez retired from the service effective February 12 or five days after Iriberri assumed the post of Army chief.

 

He also said Ybañez, a non-PMAyer, did not give a reason for retiring earlier than scheduled, which is in April next year. It came after some quarters questioned the appointment of Iriberri as Army chief.

 

Ybañez will be succeeded by Maj. Gen. Benito de Leon, chief of the Army Training and Doctrines Command (Tradoc). A classmate of Bautista, De Leon will assume his new post on Friday.

 

De Leon had been accused of plunder in connection with the alleged diversion of over P2 billion in military funds in the 1990s. He was subsequently cleared of the accusation, made by his PMA classmate,  former military budget officer Lt. Col. George Rabusa.

 

Replacing De Leon as Tradoc chief is Brig. Gen. Ivan Samarita (PMA 1982), the chief of the 202nd Brigade.

 

Succeeding Samarita at the 202nd Brigade is Col. Rodel Mauro Alarcon (PMA Class 1985), Army assistant chief for plans.

 

Maj. Gen. Gamaliel Cruz, the AFP chief of staff for logistics, had been designated as chief of the Army Support Command, replacing Maj. Gen. Danilo Servando who retired last February. Cruz and Servando are from the PMA Cclass 1981.