In this file photo Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Benjamin Madrigal dons the rank of Lieutenant General to Central Command chief Noel Clement at the AFP General Headquarters, Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Jan. 10, 2019, Lt.General Clement is the new appointed Chief of Staff of the AFP.
THE leadership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines remained firmly in the hands of Philippine Military Academy Class of 1985 following the appointment of Lt. Gen. Noel Clement as the incoming chief of staff.
Clement, current commander of the Central Command based in Cebu, but has operational jurisdiction over the entire Visayas, will succeed outgoing chief of staff Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr., with the turnover ceremony having been scheduled on Tuesday.
Both Clement and Madrigal are members of PMA Class 1985. Madrigal’s predecessor, retired Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., the current government peace adviser, is also a member of the class.
Clement would be the AFP’s sixth chief of staff under President Duterte, who is halfway through his six-year term.
The incoming chief of staff welcomed his impending assumption, saying he would work in order to ensure that Duterte’s matching orders for the military to get rid of the communist insurgency by the end of his term is attained.
“I will have to engage more sectors so that there would be more of us who would be fighting,” he said, adding this tack should hasten the defeat of communism.
Clement ensured the capability upgrade of the military through the modernization program will continue along with the being implemented plans and schemes against terrorism.
Before heading the Central Command where he was plucked from to serve as the top military chief, Clement commanded the 10th Infantry Division based in Compostela Valley, but which has operational jurisdiction over the Davao provinces, including Duterte’s home city.
Jonas Burgos case
As a junior officer and commander of the 56th Infantry Battalion based in Bulacan, he was initially tagged in the 2007 disappearance of farmer-activist Jonas Burgos.
Burgos, son of the late world press freedom icon Joe Burgos Jr., was snatched at a mall in Quezon City. He remains missing although his family members have never stopped searching even up to this day.
Allegations of involvement in the kidnapping of Burgos scarred Clement’s career at least initially, but he has survived them, leading still to his rise in the military. He was not among the military officers charged by the Burgos family lawyers.
Editha Burgos, Jonas’s mother, said that “for as long as the military does not comply with the court order to surface Jonas, they will remain under a lound of suspicion.”
Clement does not want to dig up the issue or even entertain the notion that his appointment as chief of staff will intensify cases of enforced disappearances.
“That’s a very old issue and I will not honor them by answering that. So if they want to make that an issue that’s their problem. It is up to them to prove whether there is truth to it, “ he said.
“But I will not explain to them. I have been faithful in my service to our country and I have not been involved in any of those activities,” he added, noting there had not been “any iota of evidence” against him.
A biosketch of Clement provided by military public affairs office chief Col. Noel Detoyato showed the incoming chief of staff studied at DOLE Philippines School, Stella Maris Academy of Davao and had his first year in Bachelor of Science in Commerce at Ateneo De Davao University, before entering the Philippine Military Academy in 1981.
He was born in Lipa City, Batangas.
Clement, current commander of the Central Command based in Cebu, but has operational jurisdiction over the entire Visayas, will succeed outgoing chief of staff Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr., with the turnover ceremony having been scheduled on Tuesday.
Both Clement and Madrigal are members of PMA Class 1985. Madrigal’s predecessor, retired Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., the current government peace adviser, is also a member of the class.
Clement would be the AFP’s sixth chief of staff under President Duterte, who is halfway through his six-year term.
The incoming chief of staff welcomed his impending assumption, saying he would work in order to ensure that Duterte’s matching orders for the military to get rid of the communist insurgency by the end of his term is attained.
“I will have to engage more sectors so that there would be more of us who would be fighting,” he said, adding this tack should hasten the defeat of communism.
Clement ensured the capability upgrade of the military through the modernization program will continue along with the being implemented plans and schemes against terrorism.
Before heading the Central Command where he was plucked from to serve as the top military chief, Clement commanded the 10th Infantry Division based in Compostela Valley, but which has operational jurisdiction over the Davao provinces, including Duterte’s home city.
Jonas Burgos case
As a junior officer and commander of the 56th Infantry Battalion based in Bulacan, he was initially tagged in the 2007 disappearance of farmer-activist Jonas Burgos.
Burgos, son of the late world press freedom icon Joe Burgos Jr., was snatched at a mall in Quezon City. He remains missing although his family members have never stopped searching even up to this day.
Allegations of involvement in the kidnapping of Burgos scarred Clement’s career at least initially, but he has survived them, leading still to his rise in the military. He was not among the military officers charged by the Burgos family lawyers.
Editha Burgos, Jonas’s mother, said that “for as long as the military does not comply with the court order to surface Jonas, they will remain under a lound of suspicion.”
Clement does not want to dig up the issue or even entertain the notion that his appointment as chief of staff will intensify cases of enforced disappearances.
“That’s a very old issue and I will not honor them by answering that. So if they want to make that an issue that’s their problem. It is up to them to prove whether there is truth to it, “ he said.
“But I will not explain to them. I have been faithful in my service to our country and I have not been involved in any of those activities,” he added, noting there had not been “any iota of evidence” against him.
A biosketch of Clement provided by military public affairs office chief Col. Noel Detoyato showed the incoming chief of staff studied at DOLE Philippines School, Stella Maris Academy of Davao and had his first year in Bachelor of Science in Commerce at Ateneo De Davao University, before entering the Philippine Military Academy in 1981.
He was born in Lipa City, Batangas.
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