Former PSG chief now heads ISAFP

The newly appointed chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), Brig. Gen. Delfin Bangit, will assume his post on Friday.

Bangit, at present deputy commander of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division based at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, will take over the post vacated by Commodore Leonardo Calderon.

Calderon has been promoted AFP deputy chief for intelligence (J-2), a post previously held by Maj. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang who was designated commanding general of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division in Catbalogan City in Samar.

ISAFP insiders said they are already expecting several changes with Bangit’s imminent assumption.

"Sa Biyernes pa natin malalaman kung anu-ano ang mga pagbabago dito sa loob (We’ll know by Friday what changes will take place here)," said one source.

Bangit’s appointment did not come as a surprise to many in the military. Insiders claim his reassignment at ISAFP has long been expected.

Bangit, considered a protégé of President Arroyo, is expected to intensify intelligence activities on the perceived enemies of the state.

"We are expecting a lot of missions in the days ahead after his assumption," an ISAFP insider said.

A member of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1978, Bangit was chief of Presidential Security Group (PSG) before he was transferred to Tanay.

Mrs. Arroyo is an honorary member of the PMA Class ’78. The ISAFP was at the center of the controversy last year for allegedly being the source of the "Hello Garci" recordings, a bugged telephone conversion between the President and and an election officials widely believed to be former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, allegedly about rigging the results of the 2004 presidential elections.

The ISAFP also drew criticisms for allegedly wiretapping the opponents of the Arroyo government during the ’04 polls. — Jaime Laude