The powerful Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday September 8 confirmed the appointments of 39 ranking Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) officers but deferred the confirmation of Maj. Gen. Bartolome O. Bacarro as a Lieutenant General, a three-star rank.
Confirmed during a CA plenary session as Major Generals Roland E. Nerona and Jeffrey C. Hechanova, and Edgar M. Cardinoza, Leonardo I. Pena and Bievenido J. Casaclang as Brigadier Generals.
The 34 others were confirmed as colonels.
The family of the late Darwin Dormitorio opposed Bacarro’s promotion.
Young Dormitorio died from hazing inflicted by Philippine Military Academy (PMA) upperclassmen in 2019.
Bacarro, who was the PMA commandant of cadets at the time, said the three-man panel of prosecutors in Baguio city dismissed the criminal charges lodged against him.
Dexter Dormitorio, brother of Darwin, appeared before the CA committee on National Defense chaired by Representative Luis Ferrer IV, and said: “Will we entrust Maj. Gen. Bacarro with the heavy responsibility of a 3-star general and the entire Southern Luzon when his track record shows that he failed miserably in PMA, an assignment considerably less difficult by military standards with a population only exceeding 1,000?”
“Will we entrust Maj. Gen. Bacarro with the heavy responsibility of a 3-star general and the entire Southern Luzon when his track record shows that he failed miserably in PMA, an assignment considerably less difficult by military standards with a population only exceeding 1,000?” said Dexter Dormitorio, the brother of Darwin.
“What Mr. Bacarro achieved 30 years ago does not remove the fact that a life was claimed from his ineptitude as a leader and decision-maker,” Dormitorio added.
Bacarro said he understood the family’s grief but the accusations against him have tainted his reputation despite the court clearing him of criminal liabilities.
“This grief no matter how sour does not license anyone to persistently prosecute another in all venues and platforms without any basis of law and in fact,” Bacarro told the bicameral commission..
“I understand that these are accusations from a grieving family. However, it pains me that these accusations continue to taint my reputation when the investigation itself has established the absence of any criminal liability on my part,” he said.
Due to lack of time for deliberations, the CA committee deferred Bacarro’s confirmation hearing until its next hearing on Sept. 15.
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