Gen. Año to retire 5 mos. ahead to take over DILG

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said yesterday that Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Eduardo Año will retire on June 2, or almost five months before his scheduled retirement on October 26 of this year.

Lorenzana made the revelation as he spoke at the closing ceremony of “Balikatan 2017” held at the Tejeros Hall in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

He revealed that he had tried to persuade President Duterte to extend Año’s service with the AFP before eventually giving him the post as Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary.

“I was trying to persuade the President to extend his (Año’s) service with AFP, the last time was last night when I said: ‘Mr. President can we extend the stay of Gen. Ano with the AFP?’ He said: ‘No, no, no, no’,” Lorenzana said.

“Let’s have the turn-over by June 2 so that’s it, its final,” Lorenzana quoted Duterte as having told him.

Meanwhile, United States Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Y. Kim congratulated Gen. Año on his recent nomination to head the DILG.

Citing how critically important the Cabinet post is, Kim said: “We will of course miss his (Año’s) tremendous leadership of the AFP… but I think it speaks volumes that President Duterte has nominated someone of his caliber to head this very important department.”