Newly appointed Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief and concurrent commander of the Philippine Army Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. has laid down his AFP Command Guidance, dubbed “UNITY” during his first AFP-wide command conference on Friday in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
Brawner, who had just assumed the post as the 60th AFP chief succeeding Gen. Andres Centino who was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as Presidential Adviser for the West Philippine Sea, emphasized five areas on which he will focus his efforts in line with the Commander-in-Chief’s call for national unity.
“U is Unification of all people internally – the command including officers, enlisted personnel, and civilian human resource and also, the people externally – especially the former rebels who will unite once again with their families; N is Normalization, for the AFP will support the normalization process in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; I is Internal Security Operations, as the command will sustain and protect the gains to prevent the resurgence of insurgency and terrorism in the country; T is Territorial Defense, the AFP will endeavor to modernize its equipment, facilities, processes, and subsystems; as well as maintain the discipline and professionalism to ensure that the organization is a credible and competent fighting force capable of defending the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty; and Y is Youth, the AFP will do its share in developing the Youth, the future leaders of our nation, to be responsible and patriotic defenders of the nation and territory,” Brawner explained.
Senior defense and military officials from the AFP Joint Staff, personal staff, special staff, and technical staff attended the command conference to discuss the new AFP operations and modernization, the department’s plans, programs, and legislative agenda.
General Brawner will be the concurrent Army chief until President Marcos picks a new replacement for Brawner to lead the command.