AFP BRASS GET VITAL POSTS
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has designated two top-ranking military officials to vital positions in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
In a simple ceremony at the AFP headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Maj. Gen. Salvador Mison and Rear Admiral Narciso Vingzon assumed the position of AFP vice chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, respectively.
The posts were left vacant last month after the designation of Gen. Eduard Año to the top military post fupon the retirement of AFP chief Gen. Ricardo Visaya.
Mison moved up to the second highest post in the AFP, getting the post vacated by Lt. Gen. Glorioso Miranda, who was appointed last month as acting commander of the Philippine Army.
As the new vice chief of staff, Mison not only takes over the role of being next in command of the AFP but he will also act as an important link between the AFP chief of Ssaff and the area commanders.
Aiding the chief of staff in the administration and management of the AFP organization, the vice chief of staff will also sit as the chairman of various AFP Boards such as the Office of the Ethical Standard and Public Accountability, Selection of Medal for Valor, Housing, Legislative Affairs and Gender and Development.
Meanwhile, Vingson, assumed the post vacated by Mison.
He was also named concurrent Inspecror General, a post also left vacant after its former head, Maj. Gen. Oscar Lactao, was designated as commander of the AFP Central Command.
“Rear Admiral Vingson is the con- current Inspector General. He will still head the office until the assumption of a new Inspector General,” Col. Edgard Arevalo, chief of the AFP Public Affairs Office, said.
Vingson, a member of the Philippine Military Academy “Sandiwa” Class of 1985, spent almost 12 years of sea duty aboard various Philippine Navy commissioned vessels, among them BRP Alberto Navarette (PG-394), BRP Iloilo (PS32) and BRP Ang Pangulo (AT25), the presidential yacht.
Prior to his assumption as the Inspector General in December 2016, he held the positions of Commander, Naval Education and Training Command, and Deputy Commander, Philippine Fleet.
As the new deputy chief of staff of the AFP, Vingson will become the principal conductor of all activities of the AFP Joint, Personal and Special Staff.
He is now the nominal commander of the Technical and Administrative Service, and will also sit as council chairman of various board and committees in the AFP, according to Arevalo.
The deputy chief of staff automatically assumes as the chairman of the AFP Educational Benefit System, AFP Commissary and Exchange Service, AFP Commissioned Officers Club, AFP Golf Club and AFP Provident Fund.
Año said the positions of the vice chief of staff and deputy chief of staff are vital in influencing the success of the AFP.
“They may be working out of the public’s sight but their duties are equally crucial in ensuring that our efforts as one organization are unified and in line with our overall mission of protecting the people and the nation,” he added.