Army names new head of international military affairs

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Army has appointed Col. Ferdinand Rey Ga as chief of its Office of International Military Affairs (OIMA).

Maj. Gen. Rowen Tolentino, Army chief of staff, led the handing over of the OIMA symbol from outgoing acting chief, Col. Rommel Cordova, to its new head.

Prior to this post, Ga served as the deputy assistant chief of staff for operations. 

He started his military career as member of the Philippine Military Academy “Maalab” Class of 1993. He accomplished the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations Training in 2000, the Overseas Joint Warfare Course in 2010, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines Command and General Staff Course in 2013.

Ga has three master’s degrees – community development from the University of the Philippines Diliman, public management major in development security from the Development Academy of the Philippines and national security administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines. 

He was formerly the commanding officer of the 4th Field Artillery Battalion of the Army Artillery Regiment, the chief of staff of AAR and Civil-Military Operations of the Philippine Battalion of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor.

“Rest assured that I will do my duties and responsibilities to the best of my abilities (and) to work with commitment as guided by the four strategic thrusts of the CGPA. Foremost, to strive for excellence towards the attainment of the objective of the International Defense and Security Engagements and other military diplomacy initiatives,” Ga said during his assumption last week.