This week, all roads lead to Fort Del Pilar
Starting Wednesday, the Philippine Military Academy will welcome thousands of alumni returning to their alma mater on the occasion of Homecoming Week 2014. A special place of honor is reserved for the Class of 1954, Diamond jubilarians (60 years); the Class of 1964, Golden boys (50 years); and the Class of 1989, Silver (25 years).
The chair of this year’s homecoming activities is Maj. Gen. Reynaldo V. Reyes (ret.) while the guest of honor is Secretary Panfilo M. Lacson, presidential assistant for rehabilitation and recovery, Class of 1971.
The alumni parade on Saturday, Feb. 15 will be followed later in the day by retirement ceremonies for the outgoing PMA Superintendent Vice Admiral Edgar L. Abogado. He will have served in the position for 10 months, a little bit longer than his predecessor who stayed for only five months. As you will note, the Academy also suffers from the “revolving door” syndrome which hopefully is about to undergo revision. Although there has been no official announcement on Abogado’s replacement, the word from reliable sources is that Maj. Gen. Oscar P. Lopez, a classmate of AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista and current chief, Resource Management Office (RMO) at GHQ, AFP is likely to be the incoming PMA superintendent. The new boss at Fort Del Pilar will have a longer time in office than Abogado. He retires in February 2016, giving him two years at the Fort. We wish to thank Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and General Bautista, for their positive response to the concerns of the alumni particularly as regards the Philippine Military Academy.
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A few notes on the PMA.
For the benefit of our readers who may not be too familiar with the institution, it is important to understand the beginnings of the Academy because it is part of our military history.
For many years, my alma mater the PMA traced its roots to the Constabulary School set up by Brig. Gen. Henry T. Allen during the early years of American colonial rule. As PC chief, Allen issued General Order No. 71 on Feb. 17, 1905, setting up this training facility for native police officers. For this reason, PMA Foundation Day was reckoned from that date.
After extensive research, Dr. Cesar Pobre, a former dean of the AFP Corps of Professors and a vice chair of the Philippine History Foundation, came upon the fact that “as part of the major organizational efforts at modernizing the Filipino armed forces, the President of the Revolutionary Government, General Emilio Aguinaldo, issued a decree on Oct. 25, 1898, establishing an Academia Militar in the town of Malolos, Bulacan.”
As part of his work on a master’s degree in history at the University of the Philippines, he published a paper entitled “A Historical Analysis of the Roots and Growth of the Philippine Military Academy.” In this paper, he was able to establish the following:
• The date and place where the Academia Militar was established.
• Its mission and objectives
• The name of its designated director
• The date the sessions began, and the sections into which the class was divided
• The different subjects comprising the course of instruction
• The manner of treating failures.
His findings led him to believe that the Academia Militar and not the Constabulary School had a “better title to being PMA’s historical anchor.” This view has been upheld by the PMA Alumni Association and today, the Military Academy marks its Foundation Day on Oct. 25 each year.
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Last Saturday, the 85,000-strong Philippine Army welcomed its new commander, Maj. Gen. Hernando D.C.A. Iriberri, PMA Class 1983. Prior to his assumption as commanding general, Iriberri was head of the 7th Infantry Division based in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.
Some interesting facts about the new designation:
In the Seniority Lineal List of General/Flag Officers of the AFP as of Jan. 7, 2014, Iriberri was No. 29 among the major generals/rear admirals (two stars) of the AFP. If one did not examine this list a bit more thoroughly, he would be inclined to believe that this was a case of very deep selection.
While Iriberri is No. 29, the list includes Air Force and Navy officers and there are 15 of them. So, these 15 were never in contention. Of the 14 Army officers, a number lacked the necessary one-year requirement for promotion to major service commander. Actually, Iriberri jumped over three members of the Class of 1982 who may have been ahead of him depending on their date of promotion to two stars. One of them, Maj. Gen. John S. Bonafos, is currently the commander of Central Command in the Visayas.
Everyone in the military organization knows that Iriberri was the choice of Gazmin. This is understandable considering their long association even when Gazmin was Army Commander in 1999. There is a standing joke in the AFP nowadays that the Board of Generals (BoG), a body that recommends officers to senior positions in the AFP, actually stands for Board of Gazmin. What Volts wants, Volts gets.
Having said that, let me also add that what Volts wants, could be good for the Army. Iriberri has a service reputation he can be proud of and a professional military record to complement that reputation. The challenge for Iriberri is to prove that his promotion was not a mistake.
By the way, Iriberri has more than two years left in the service. While I realize that as individuals we continue to aspire for higher office, we must also think about how we can best serve the institution. It is time to think in terms of providing service commanders with longer tours. Without a law providing for fixed terms, the next best alternative is to move up younger officers with the necessary qualifications faster than usual.
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My thanks to Daniel H. Dizon for his book “Amidst Unsung Heroes: The Battle of Porac.” It is an eyewitness account of the first 30 days of World War II in Pampanga through the eyes of a small boy growing up in the shadow of enemy occupation.
