PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has appointed Medal of Valor awardee Lieutenant General Bartolome Bacarro as the chief-of-staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said Monday, August 1, 2022.
Angeles said Bacarro, who is currently the commander of the AFP-Southern Luzon Command (Solcom), will assume his post on August 8.
“The change of command for the new AFP chief-of-staff will be on August 8. This will give time for Gen. Bacarro to wind down at the Solcom and provide him with the transition to his new position in Camp Aguinaldo,” she said.
Bacarro is a member of Philippine Military Academy Maringal class of 1988.
Angeles said Bacarro’s classmate, outgoing AFP chief-of-staff General Andres Centino “is slated for a new post befitting a former chief-of-staff.”
Bacarro was awarded with the Medal of Valor, the highest award a soldier can get, for displaying “conspicuous acts of courage, gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty” during a 10-hour encounter with 150 fully armed New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who attacked the town of Maconacon, Isabela on February 26, 1991.
From 1988 to 1995, at the height of the counter-insurgency campaign in the Cagayan Valley, Bacarro was assigned with the 5th Infantry Division in Isabela province.
He held various positions in both combat and administrative operations.
Bacarro also served as the spokesperson of the Philippine Army and later of the whole of the AFP.
He has undergone specialized military training, both local and foreign such as the Special Operations Team Training, Paratroopers Course, Basic and Advance Infantry Officers Course in the AFP.
His foreign military schooling included the Combined Strategic Intelligence Training Program in Washington DC; Peace-keeping Operations Course in Canada; Public Affairs Orientation Course in Hawaii; and the US Army General Staff Course at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA.
Bacarro will serve as the AFP chief-of-staff in the next three years due to the Republic Act 11709, which determines a fixed term of duty for top military officials "unless sooner terminated by the President."
The measure was signed into law by former President Rodrigo Duterte in May 2022. (SunStar Philippines)