Flags in all camps of the Armed Forces of the Philippines were flown at half-mast from Saturday to honor former chief of staff Delfin Bangit, who died Friday.
AFP public affairs chief Colonel Ramon Zagala, in a statement, said Bangit, 58, will be granted full military honors on Tuesday, when his remains will be transferred from the mortuary of the Libingan ng mga Bayani to Camp Aguinaldo.
Bangit died of multiple organ failure at St. Luke’s Medical Center Friday afternoon.The 38th AFP chief of staff, Bangit belonged to Philippine Military Academy class of 1978, and was considered the “favorite general” of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, an adopted “mistah” of the class.
He served as Arroyo’s aide when she was vice president and then commander the Presidential Security Group during the May 1, 2001 “Siege of Malacanang,” when loyalists of deposed President Joseph Estrada attempted to storm the Palace.
He went on to head the Intelligence Service of the AFP, during which time activist Jonas Burgos was abducted, and the Philippine Army before Arroyo named him AFP chief in March 2010, just months before she stepped down.
Weeks before the 2010 elections, there were reports that some quarters had tried but failed to bribe Bangit to support for them.
“Without any ambiguity, he declared his stand for the Constitution and stood up to insulate the AFP from politics,” the AFP said.
When President Benigno Aquino III assumed office, he voiced his desire to replace Bangit, who was supposed to serve until July 2011. Although he initially resisted, Bangit eventually chose early retirement in June 2010.
Zagala said Bangit’s stint saw the intensified campaign against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu and Basilan in which several sub-leaders of the group were neutralized, and the strength of the New People’s Army dipped to a “historic low” of less than 5,000 and the communist rebels were “confined to just five areas in the whole country.”
“The AFP is one with General Bangit’s family in their hour of grief as we honor a be-medalled soldier, an officer, and a gentleman who served our nation professionally,” Zagala said.
Army spokesman Capt. Anthony Bacus called Bangit "a strong advocate of peace, initiating measures to fight insurgency not in the traditional way, but by winning the hearts and minds of the people.”
A native of San Mateo, Rizal, Bangit was the eigth of nine children.
Before he entered PMA in 1974, Bangit took up a course at the Philippine School of Business Administration while working as a clerk at Bayantel. Two brothers were also PMA graduates, belong to Class 1964 and 1977.
He is survived by his wife, the former Daisy Magdangal, with whom he has three children -- Harold, Diane, and Hector.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/76829/flags-in-military-camps-at-half-mast-to-honor-former-afp-chief-bangit
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