Lt. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu is the new Philippine Army Chief
Lt Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu took oath today (March 12) as the 52nd commanding general of the Philippine Army taking over Gen. Delfin Bangit, who took his oath as armed forces chief of staff on Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. Mapagu and Gen. Bangit are both members Makatarungan PMA Class of 1978, of which President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is an adopted member.
In his speech, the new chief of Philippines Armycited his predecessors’ achievements and promised to continue their projects.
Both Bangit and Mapagu vowed the military will push for clean and credible elections in May.
“For our part, rest assured we shall persevere to fully accomplish our internal security operations mandate to reduce insurgency to an inconsequential level across country. We shall endeavor to ensure orderly, peaceful and more importantly, honest and credible elections this coming May. We will do all these so that people can focus on the more urgent goal of national development and economic prosperity,” Mapagu said.
There have been rumors that the Arroyo administration will use PMA Class 1978 to cheat in the elections. The rumors were boosted by the appointment of its members to sensitive positions in the military.
Seven of the 10 Army divisions are being held by members of the same class.
Just like Bangit, Mapagu was also appointed to a top military post ahead of their upperclassmen in the PMA.
Mapagu had also served as Scout Ranger commander and replaced General Danny Lim who was detained after leading the Fort Bonifacio standoff in February 2006.
Mapagu was also chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-National Capital Region (AFP-NCR) command.
