19 newly promoted AFP generals take oath

By Alexis Romero

Philippine Star, Tuesday, September 6,2011

MANILA, Philippines - Nineteen military generals formally received their promotions yesterday and vowed to perform their duties faithfully as members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The generals took their oath in Malacañang yesterday morning and were given military honors in a separate ceremony in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. The ceremony was followed by a traditional courtesy call on AFP chief Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr.

“I am proud of all the newly promoted officials, for each of them deserves the commendation that they will receive. I just hope that their citation will go hand in hand with the promise to be a better soldier and officer of the AFP,” he said.

Leading the generals who took their oath was AFP deputy chief of staff Lt. Gen. Anthony Alcantara, who received his third star.

Alcantara, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class ‘79, is reportedly one of the strong contenders to be the next AFP chief. He is a classmate of Oban, who is scheduled to retire from the service in December.

Prior to his assumption of the post of deputy chief of staff, Alcantara was the commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division based in Maguindanao. As division commander, Alcantara was among those who supervised the implementation of martial law in Maguindanao in the wake of the Nov. 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre, which left 58 people dead.

Other posts he has held include training and doctrine command chief, AFP Command Center chief, 702nd Infantry Brigade commander, assistant chief of staff for personnel, and assistant chief of staff for civil military operations.

Also among the generals who took their oath is Brig. Gen. Caesar Ronnie Ordoyo, who has been designated as chief of the Intelligence Service. He is a former commander of the Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade and deputy commander of the Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command.

Also promoted was Maj. Gen. Noel Coballes, the commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division in Zamboanga del Sur. He oversees the operations against the New People’s Army and the Abu Sayyaf in the Zambonga peninsula region. He is a member of PMA Class 1980.

Other generals who took their oath were Brig. Gen. Reynaldo Torres, chief of the AFP dental service; Rear Adm. Robert Balanon Jr.; Rear Adm. Armando Guzman; Maj. Gen. Joel Marayag; Brig. Gen. Danilo Fabian; Brig. Gen. Teodoro Cirilo Torralba III; Commo. Jose Renan Suarez; Commo. Jesus Millan; Brig. Gen. Edgar Fallorina; Commo. Leopoldo Alano, Brig. Gen. Pedro Biasbas; Commo. Romeo Santiago Nebres; Brig. Gen. Augusto Tolentino; Brig. Gen. Leonido Bongcawil; Brig. Gen. Leo Cresente Ferrer and reservist Brig. Gen. Rufino Tiangco.

www.philstar.com

Navy’s fastest ship sails to new homeport

By Gemma Nemenzo

NewsBreak, Wednesday, July 20, 2011

CALIFORNIA—“Requesting permission, sir, to carry out the mission to return to the Philippines.”

As the BRP Gregorio del Pilar leaves the US Coast Guard dock in Alameda, California, the crew unfurls a banner.

Philippine Navy Captain Alberto Cruz uttered these all-important words softly, almost privately—away from the chatter of supporters and onlookers—to the Flag Officer in Command (FOIC) of the Navy, Vice Admiral Alexander Pama, at around 1530 hours on July 18 in Alameda, California.

With permission granted, Cruz then boarded the BRP Gregorio del Pilar to steer the new crown jewel of the Philippine Navy on her journey of approximately a month to her new homeport.

Earlier, the rituals of departure that naval tradition calls for whenever a ship is deployed on an important mission were conducted by the ship’s 95-person crew, leaving the crowd of about a hundred supporters tearful.

The emotion of the moment was not lost on the ex-Philippine Navy officers present (all of them alumni of the Philippine Military Academy, where Pama, Cruz and the other top officers of the BRP GdP also graduated from) as they remembered their years aboard the rickety ships of the Navy and watched with a large amount of pride this big new ship the likes of which they could only dream about when they were in active service.

It took more than an hour before the former Hamilton class cutter was actually able to leave port. A minor propeller problem had to be repaired before the U.S. Coast Guard tugboat could steer it out of the dock. When she finally sailed, the dwindled crowd of wellwishers cheered and waved tiny Philippine flags as the crew unfurled a hastily made banner that said, “Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.”

Pama, recording the departure on both his cell phone and tablet computer, was visibly proud as he watched the 92 men and three women under his command sail away. Earlier, in a moment of nostalgia for his days aboard ship, he had wished that he was on board with them.

Fastest, biggest

The BRP Gregorio del Pilar is the first of three major vessels the Philippine Navy will acquire “hopefully by the end of the year,” according to Pama.

Funding for the acquisitions—part of the military modernization plans of the Aquino administration—will come from the Department of Energy’s six billion-peso allotment for oil exploration and coastal protection.

It will not be the first time this particular ship – the WHEC-715 – will dock in the Philippines.

On her initial deployment in 1969, she sailed from Panama to Subic Naval Base, where she docked for four days before proceeding to South Vietnam to carry out the mission of preventing weapons smuggling from North Vietnam at the height of the war.

After her wartime mission, the 715 was used by the US Coast Guard for anti-drug smuggling duties and rescue operations in various countries until her final decommissioning last March.

The Philippine government bought the Hamilton class cutter early this year for approximately US$13 million (Php450 million) under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

Once the largest ship of the American Coast Guard, this is the first gas-turbine jet engine-powered vessel in the Philippine Navy fleet, making it the fastest, biggest and most powerful among the service’s aging inventory.

She is described as “a high endurance cutter with close-in weapons system” and features a helicopter flight deck with a retractable hangar, with capabilities for rescue operations and maritime law enforcement.

At the helm of the BRP Gregorio del Pilar is Navy Captain Alberto Cruz, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of ’88.

Elite Crew

Philippine Navy Captain Alberto Cruz, the author, and Vice Admiral Alex Pama. After this photo was napped, Cruz turned to Pama to ask permission to sail.

Not an easy task considering that this is the first time he and his crew will traverse this lengthy route, and the first time they will navigate this ship with her unfamiliar technology for an extended period in the open sea without the assistance and know-how of its former American crew.

An amiable, soft-spoken guy whose easy-going style belies years of experience in commanding naval ships and people, his all-important mission is to deliver this very valuable vessel across the Pacific to the Philippine waters safe and intact.

To top it all, they will be arriving in the Philippines right smack into typhoon season.

But if there’s any group up to the challenge, it’s this crew of naval officers and sailors who have been handpicked by the Philippine Fleet Command (a special committee of top naval officials) based on their exemplary service and experience.

“It’s safe to say that this crew, from the Commanding Officer down to the lowest ranking enlisted man, is the ‘crème de la crème’ of the Philippine Navy,” retired Philippine Navy Captain Archie Almario says.

“You don’t send someone with a checkered service record to an international mission as important as this. This [assignment] is both a recognition of their talents and a reward for their good work.”

Cruz and the seven other naval officers and 13 enlisted men/engineers that formed the initial group that trained with the Hamilton command were assigned in various naval ships stationed in different areas of the archipelago when they got the call from their superiors last January. Report to [the Philippine Navy headquarters] Manila for a new assignment was the missive. There they were told of the government’s acquisition and the role they would play in the process.

As commanding officer, Cruz had his complete crew already chosen for him. Among the seven are the executive officer Navy Commander Reynaldo Lopez (PMA Class 1992) and Lieutenant Junior Grade Andrelee Mojica (the valedictorian of PMA Class of 2007), the damage control officer, who is one of three women officers on the ship.

‘Lost command’

The first weeks of their new assignment were a whirlwind of activities for the chosen 21.

All underwent rigorous physical exams and intensive neuro-psychiatric evaluations (NPE), the latter crucial in determining whether each person had the mental and psychological capacity to withstand the challenge of being away from their families for an indeterminate period, the stability to face up to the pressure-cooker demands of a new environment in a different country, and the rigor to learn new technologies and procedures within a relatively short period of time.

Cruz credits the NPE evaluation for the relatively problem-free dynamic that currently governs the quality of interaction among the ship’s crew. “We had met each other before [this mission], but only casually,” the commanding officer says. “But somehow we bonded immediately.”

On February 25 this year, the group landed in San Francisco and were immediately whisked to Alameda (about 20 minutes away) to board the USCGC Boutwell, the sister ship of the Hamilton, for hands-on training.

What they didn’t anticipate was that they would be cut off from all communications with the outside world for two full months as the Boutwell crew carried out a highly classified US Coast Guard anti-drug smuggling operation that brought the vessel to as far as Ecuador and El Salvador.

With no telephone or Internet access, the Filipino navymen on board joked among themselves that they had become a “lost command.” Worse, they had to endure meals without rice for weeks on end, which as we know, is tantamount to torture for Filipinos from the Philippines.

“We had salad, potatoes, meat, potatoes and potatoes,” one of them remarked. No wonder they had to go through the NPEs. They were only allowed to check in with their families when the tsunami in Japan happened.

A US Coast Guard tugboat begins to steer the BRP Gregorio del Pilar out of US waters to proceed to the Philippines.

When the Boutwell returned to San Diego, the Hamilton cutter was ready to sail for Alameda for the formal turnover to the Philippine government. Cruz and his crew were given permission to ride with the ship to her new destination, but as passengers, since training on the actual vessel (already named Ex Hamilton after its decommissioning) would start only after the May 13 ceremony.

Gregorio del Pilar

With the Hamilton rechristened Gregorio del Pilar, Cruz took command of the vessel.

The rest of the crew were flown in from the Philippines to work alongside their American counterparts. By then, the original 21 have had enough experience with gas turbine engine technology to be confident that they would be able to get the ship to sail.

For a journey across the Pacific, however, more weeks of intense training were required.

Finally, in early July, they did a four-day run at sea along the coast of California for a test of the crew’s capabilities and the ship’s sea-worthiness. After that, the American trainors de-boarded and the Filipino naval officers and men were on their own.

As soon as she reaches her new homeport, the BRP Gregorio del Pilar will undergo some refurbishing before deployment to the Spratlys.

When confronted with the usual saber-rattling by powerful nations during territorial disputes, the Philippines now has a gleaming big saber to brandish in return.—Newsbreak

www.newsbreak.ph

New Logistics chief assumes post

By Zaida delos Reyes-Palanca
journal Online, Sunday, July 17, 2011

THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has a new deputy chief of staff for Logistics, J4 in the person of former commander of the Naval Forces West (Nav-forwest) in Palawan Commodore Edgardo D. Tamayo.

In a simple turn-over ceremony held in the AFP Conference Room, Commo. Tamayo succeded Commo. Teddy O. Pan who will retire from his military service today, July 17.

In his speech, Tamayo asked the cooperation of the Logistics family and the support of the command in performing his responsibilities in the office.

“Sama-sama tayo at magtulungan para sa tamang proseso at pagtungo sa matuwid na daan,” Tamayo said.

Tamayo has been serving the Armed Forces for 31 years now since he joined the Philippine Navy after graduating from the Philippine Military Academy in 1980.

Before serving as the commander of the Navforwest, Tamayo served as the commander of Service Force Philippine Fleet (PHLFLT), the deputy commander of the Naval Forces Central located in Visayas, commander, Naval Task Force 71 in Eastern Mindanao, deputy commander of the Patrol Force PHLFLT, chief of staff of the Naval Sea Systems Command and commanding officer of five Commissioned Vessels the last of which was BRP Emilio Jacinto (PS-37).

Tamayo signified the importance of working together as one unit which shall share the same goal of fulfilling the mandate to protect the best interest of the Filipino nation while upholding a transparent and credible service in the military.

“Let me now profess on this spot, with all the officers enlisted personnel and civilian employees of the AFP and the logistic family, that we should all together pledge to dedicate and rededicate our unwavering commitment to work towards common purpose in order to accomplish our tasks,” Tamayo said.

“Individually, we cannot do much but collectively, we can do a lot and produce better results,” he added.

www.journal.com.ph

NCRCom to help PSG, PNP secure 113th Independence Day celebration

By Mario J Mallari
The Daily Tribune, Saturday, June 11, 2011

The military’s National Capital Region Command (NCRCom) will deploy 500 personnel to assist the Presidential Security Group and the Philippine National Police in securing the 113th Independence Day celebration tomorrow.

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. said aside from the 500 NCRCom troops to be deployed, the AFP also mobilized 300 follow on forces, three Civil Disturbance Management units and two communications teams on stand-by as possible reinforcements.

The AFP was primarily tasked to secure Rizal Park in Manila where a grand parade is scheduled; Monumento in Caloocan City and the Museleo de Veteranos de la Revolucion or the Manila North Cemetery.

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines is in full participation as we rejoice together with the nation in commemorating the 113 years of our independence,” Oban said.

Parading elements composed of one battalion each from the Philippine Army, AFP General Headquarters, Philippine Military Academy (PMA), Philippine Air Force, Philippine Navy and Composite Enlisted Women; two battalions from the Peacekeeping Contingent and 121 personnel from the AFP Band will join the Kalayaan Grand Parade.

More than a hundred military personnel will carry the Philippine Flag and the AFP Colors which consist of the AFP units’ flags. Rear Adm. Orwen J. Cortez will lead as the parading element’s troop commander.

The military component participating in the parade at Quirino Grandsatnd will be comprised of more than a thousand regular troops and cadets from the PMA.

The Philippine Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Team will also stage an exhibition to be followed by the PMA Silent Drill Company of Class 2013 at the Quirino Grandstand.

The AFP will also conduct a free public concert dubbed “Musikalayaan” or music for peace at the Open Air Auditorium in Rizal Park, Manila today to be participated in by the uniformed bands of the Philippine Army and the Philippine Naval Construction Brigade.

“In the spirit of the IPSP Bayanihan, these activities exemplify our expression of great pride of our beloved country and to always bear in our mind the continuous pursuance of protecting the Filipino nation’s freedom and sovereignty,” Oban said.

tribuneonline.org

AFP, PNP beef up security measures for Independence Day celeb

By Jell E. Guzman
PIA Press Release, Saturday, June 11, 2011

QUEZON CITY, June 11 (PIA) -– The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) is beefing up security measures in preparation for the celebration of the 113th Philippine Independence on Sunday, June 12, 2011.

AFP chief General Eduardo Oban said the whole Armed Forces rejoice with the nation in commemorating 113 years of Philippine independence.

PNP chief Raul M. Bacalzo also directed all police units to intensify police visibility, checkpoint operations, and mobile and foot patrol in accordance with the Police Integrated Patrol System (PIPS).

Around 500 personnel from the AFP’s National Capital Region Command (AFP NCRCOM) will be deployed to complement personnel from the PNP and Presidential Security Group (PSG) to ensure security in Rizal Park, Manila; Bonifacio National Monument, Caloocan; Pinaglabanan Memorial Shrine, San Juan; and Mauseleo de los Veteranos de la Revolucion, Manila North Cemetery.

Aside from the 500 AFP personnel that will be deployed, the AFP has also put on standby some 300 follow on forces, three Civil Disturbance Management (CMD) units, and two communications teams.

On Sunday, June 12, parading elements composed of one battalion each from the Philippine Army, AFP General Headquarters, Philippine Military Academy (PMA), Philippine Air Force, Philippine Navy and Composite Enlisted Women; 2 battalions from the Peacekeeping Contingent and 121 personnel from the AFP Band will join the Kalayaan (freedom) Grand Parade.

Rear Admiral Orwen J. Cortez will lead the troop of more than 100 military personnel who will be carrying the Philippine Flag and the AFP Colors.

The AFP Philippine Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Team will have an exhibition to be followed by a silent drill to be performed by PMA Class of 2013 at the Quirino Grandstand.

Meanwhile, the AFP and the PNP will also hold a free public concert dubbed as “Musikalayaan” or music for peace at the Open Air Auditorium in Rizal Park, Manila on Saturday, June 11.

“In the spirit of the Bayanihan, these activities exemplify our expression of great pride of our beloved country, and to always bear in mind the continuous pursuance of protecting the Filipino nation’s freedom and sovereignty,” said Oban. (AFP/PIA-NCR/RJB/JEG)

pia.gov.ph

Soldiers march under rain to practice celebration parade for 113 Years of Freedom

By PNA
Balita, Friday, June 10, 2011

MANILA, June 9 –- Although drenched in the rain dumped by tropical depression “Dodong,” soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) services held their rehearsal Thursday for the military-civic parade set on Sunday afternoon at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila in celebration of the 133 years of Philippine freedom and sovereignty.

“The AFP is in full participation as we rejoice together with the nation in commemorating the 113 years of our independence,” AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo S.L. Oban Jr. said.

Following Thursday's rehearsal at the AFP General Headquarters parade grounds in Quezon City, another practice parade will be held at the Quirino Grandstand on Friday. This is part of AFP’s participation in the series of events that will highlight the June 12 celebration.

On Sunday, soldiers composed of one battalion each from the Philippine Army, AFP General Headquarters, Philippine Military Academy (PMA), Philippine Air Force, Philippine Navy and Composite Enlisted Women, and two battalions from the Peacekeeping Contingent and 121 personnel from the AFP Band will join the Kalayaan (freedom) Grand Parade at the Quirino Grandstand.

There will be over 100 military personnel carrying the Philippine Flag and the AFP Colors which consist of the AFP units’ flags.

Rear Admiral Orwen J. Cortez will lead as the parading elements’ troop commander.

On the same day, the AFP Philippine Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Team will have an exhibition, to be followed by the PMA Silent Drill Company of Class 2013.

The AFP will also be conducting a free public concert dubbed as “Musikalayaan” or music for peace at the Open Air Auditorium in Rizal Park, Manila on June 11, to be participated in by the uniformed bands of the Philippine Army and the Philippine Naval Construction Brigade.

“In the spirit of the Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) Bayanihan, these activities exemplify our expression of great pride of our beloved country and to always bear in our mind the continuous pursuance of protecting the Filipino nation’s freedom and sovereignty,” Oban said.

balita.ph