New WesCom chief named

From Malaya (Mar 27): New WesCom chief named

PRESIDENT Aquino has designated Marines commandant Maj. Gen. Rustico Guerrero as new commander of the Western Command which supervises all military operations in Palawan and in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Guerrero, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1981, is replacing fellow Marine Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban (PMA 1978) who reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56 on April 1.

With his designation, Guerrero can now be promoted to the next higher rank of lieutenant general. He has to be promoted before November this year or he will have to go on compulsory retirement.

The military’s attrition law states that a general should be promoted to the next rank before the third year of his assumption of his current rank. Guerrero got his second star in November 2010.

Before assuming as Marines commandant more than two years ago, Guerrero was commander of the military’s Joint Task Force Comet, an anti-terrorism unit based in Sulu which is a bailiwick of the Abu Sayyaf. He also served as commander of the 1st Marine Brigade based in Basilan, another bailiwick area of the Abu Sayyaf; as superintendent of the Marine Corps Training Center; chief of staff of the Marine Corps; and chief of plans and policy division at the office of the AFP deputy chief of staff for education and training.

He is reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56 in November 2015.

The new Marines commandant is Brig. Gen. Romeo Tanalgo (PMA Class 1983) who is currently chief of the AFP Command Center. Tanalgo’s successor will be Col. Oscar Lactao (Class 1984), commander of the 303rd Brigade.

Lactao will be replaced by his deputy, Col. John Aying (Class 1984).

Brig. Gen. Cesar Dionisio Sedillo (Class 81) will be taking over as chairman of the government’s Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities, a peace mechanism in the talks between government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Sedillo, current commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, replaces retiring Brig. Gen. Gilberto Roa (non-PMAer).

Sedillo’s post will go to Brig. Gen. Ricardo Visaya (Class 1983), commander of the 901st Brigade. Visaya will be succeeded by Col. Raul Farnacio (Class 1985), the chief of staff of the AFP Central Command.

The other officers who got new assignments are Navy Capt. Virgillo Garcia (Class 1983), now the new Naval Internal Auditor; Capt. Joel dela Cruz (Class 1983), new commander of the Navy’s Service Force; Capt. Jorge Amba (Class 1985), new assistant commandant and Dean of Academics of the AFP Command and General Staff College; Brig. Gen. Glorioso Miranda (Class 1983), new commander of the General Headquarters and Headquarters Service Command; and Capt. Marcial Constante (Class 1984), the new AFP provost marshal general.

http://www.malaya.com.ph/index.php/news/nation/27553-new-wescom-chief-named