Lt. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan, Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), retires on July 25, while Commo. Teddy Pan, the relieved Armed Forces deputy chief of staff for logistics (J-4), will retire on July 17.
Pangilinan, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1979, the most controversial so far among generals in terms of promotion during President Aquino’s watch because of his designation to a three-star position without having been assigned to an Army infantry division as commander.
Pan belongs to PMA Class 1977.
Talks are rife that Pangilinan would be replaced by Maj. Gen. Jessie Dellosa (PMA Class ’79), current commander of the Army’s 2nd Infantry “Jungle Fighter” Division based in Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.
Maj. Gen. Romulo Bambao, chief of the Intelligence Service, Armed Forces (Isafp), is being eyed to lead the 2 ID.
Military insiders said Brig. Gen. Samuel Narbuada (PMA Class ’79) is being eyed as Isafp chief.
The current Army vice commander, Maj. Gen. Romeo Lustestica (PMA Class ’78), was reported to be seeking early retirement because of the maximum tenure in rank rule in the military.
Under that rule, a two-star officer is given three years to get another star. If he fails to get promoted, then he will be retired. Another Armed Forces rule is the ban on the promotion of officers who have less than a year left in the service.
Pangilinan and Pan are facing corruption allegations.
Former military budget officer George Rabusa included Pangilinan in the amended plunder complaint that he filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ). Rabusa alleged that Pangilinan could have pocketed P88 million from the “conversion of funds” as the “bagman” of former Armed Forces chief of staff Arturo Enrile.
Military sources said that curiously, Rabusa amended his complaint to include Pangilinan just as the latter’s name was being bruited about as a possible replacement for Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez.
Pan, on the other hand, was relieved by the Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr. (Class ’79), and placed under investigation over the alleged conversion of some P420 million of military’s petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) supply during the watch of then-chief of staff Ricardo David Jr. The issue is still under investigation but David has been named immigration commissioner.
Reports said the converted POL supply is part of the military’s war stock provision, which can only be used during war such as invasion.
Dellosa had been offered the top military position after David but he declined, and so with the Army commander, Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz (Class ’79). In the end, the position went to Oban who was then The Deputy Chief of Staff (TDCS) or the third highest ranking officer in the Armed Forces.
