MANILA, Philippines– AFP
Chief Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr. said two senior AFP officials
engaging key military commands in the Armed Forces of the Philippines are due
for retirement and will be reinstated soon.
Lt. Gen. Caesar
Ronnie Ordoyo, commander of the Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) is due for
retirement
and will be replaced by Maj. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division (ID). The change of command will be held on Sept. 8, Ordoyo’s date of retirement, said on Tuesday.
and will be replaced by Maj. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division (ID). The change of command will be held on Sept. 8, Ordoyo’s date of retirement, said on Tuesday.
Visaya had
served in the Solcom’s 2nd Infantry Division and 9th Infantry
Division, who continued military operations in amid the demand of the
New People’s Army (NPA) for government troops operating in Surigao del Norte.
Catapang also
stated the retirement of Lt. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, commander of the
Eastern Mindanao Command. Cruz will be replaced by Maj. Gen.
Aurelio Baladad, currently chief of Army’s 3rd ID. The turnover of command
will take place on Sept. 5, a day before Cruz’s scheduled retirement.
Baladad is a
graduate of the Philippine Military Academy’s Class ’82; Cruz and Ordoyo,
Class ’80; and Visaya, Class ’83.
Maj.
Gen. Recardo Visaya mentioned one of the top contenders to the post that
he will vacate in the 4th ID is Maj. Gen. Oscar Lactao, the AFP Deputy
Chief of Staff for Operations (J3) and a member of PMA Class ’84.
