Luna is AFP No. 2

MANILA, Philippines – Lt. Gen. Cardozo Luna took over yesterday as Armed Forces vice chief of staff in place of Lt. Gen. Antonio Romero, who has been named undersecretary at the Department of National Defense.

AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. presided over the turnover ceremony at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Romero, named to the DND by President Arroyo on the recommendation of Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., expressed confidence he would be able to carry on his new tasks.

“It would be just a continuation of my work,” he said.

“I think I can easily perform because it is just a follow through for the modernization requirements of the Armed Forces and maybe the only addition would be the modernization of the Department of National Defense.”

Romero and Esperon were classmates at the Philippine Military Academy Class 1974.

In an interview following the turnover ceremony, Esperon said there would be more movements of senior military officers following the earlier revamp approved by Mrs. Arroyo.

National Capital Region Command chief Maj. Gen. Fernando Mesa, who is retiring next month, will be replaced by another officer, whom he did not yet reveal.

The other day, Maj. Gen. Delfin Bangit, former chief of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division took over the reins of the Southern Luzon Command, while Brig. Gen. Roland Detabali replaced him at his former post.

“There will probably be two more batches, General Mesa is retiring June 2 so that’s another group of new appointees, then after that we go down to the appointments as a result of the ensuing vacancies, like Gen. (Armando) Cunanan  (who) is a division commander so we will have a new commander,” Esperon said.

Cunanan, former chief of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division, will replace Luna as chief of the Eastern Mindanao Command.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Lustestica will take over from Detabali as Armed Forces assistant chief for operations.

Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia, Army 202nd Infantry Brigade commander, will be Lustestica’s deputy.

Malacañang also announced yesterday the appointment of two undersecretaries, four assistant secretaries, two acting commissioners and a woman jail chief superintendent for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

Appointed as undersecretaries are Estela Sales of the Department of Finance and Joselito Ruiz of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

On the other hand, appointed assistant secretaries are Pauly Rosell-Ubial of the Department of Health, Roberto Feliciano and Lamberto Sillona of the Department of National Defense, and Leticia Pichay of the Department of Education.  – James Mananghaya, Paolo Romero