Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Lopez appointed as Western Command chief

From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 13): Lopez appointed as Western Command chief

Rear Admiral Alexander Lopez, the naval officer who played a major role in the search-and-retrieval operations for then Department of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo in Masbate waters two years ago, was given another challenging task as he was appointed to head the Puerto Princesa City-based Western Command.

The Western Command is a unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) tasked to guard the country's interest in the disputed Spratly islands chain in the West Philippine Sea.

Lopez, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1982, replaces Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda, who is scheduled to retire on Aug. 17 after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56.

Present in the turnover rites Wednesday was Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.

Prior to his appointment as Western Command chief, Lopez served as AFP deputy chief-of-staff for education and training.

He also commanded the Fleet-Marine Ready Force which is based in Sangley Point, Cavite.

It was in this capacity when Lopez was designated as commander of the Navy component of the Task Force "Robredo" which was organized to locate and recover the remains of the then DILG secretary who died with two others when their plane crashed off the Masbate coast in August 2012.

Robredo had just come from a conference in Cebu City and was headed for home in Naga City when the mishap took place.

The remains of Robredo, pilots Jessup Bahinting and Nepalese Kshitiz Chand were recovered by task force divers a few days later.

Lopez also served as Joint Task "Malampaya" commander, assistant chief of naval staff for operations, defense and armed forces attache in Singapore, deputy assistant chief for naval staff for intelligence, aside from commanding several Navy ships.

Lopez also completed local and foreign schooling, including a naval staff course from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, USA; Defense Resource Management Course in Australia; and masters on business economics from University of Asia and the Pacific in Pasig City.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=672365

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