Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vincent Bacarro held his first ever command conference as the new Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Wednesday, August 10, at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
During the meeting, Bacarro reiterated his “U.N.I.T.Y” command guidance to unit commanders which he presented when he assumed post last Monday.
This refers to the following: “unparalleled professionalism,” “noble utilization of resources,” “invigorating capability development,” “tenacity in sustaining gains,” and “yearning for service excellence” – things that he will implement to help the organization achieve its missions within his three-year term.
“The general principle is included in the UNITY which is about professionalism, modernization, resources, and yearning and tenacity to sustain our operational gains,” said Col. Medel Aguilar, acting AFP spokesperson, when asked what was discussed during the command conference.
Particularly, Aguilar said Bacarro pointed out the importance of pursuing the campaign against insurgency.
“We have no timeline but the urgency of completing the task is there. That is why his instruction is to increase our operational tempo so we can defeat the armed group,” Aguilar bared.
Bacarro is no stranger to battling communist rebels. In fact, he obtained his Medal of Valor, the country's highest military award for courage, by defeating, through the help of his undermanned CAA unit in the 5th Infantry Division, around 150 armed communist rebels who attacked Maconacon, Isabela in 1991.
“Kung pwede nga sana, tapusin na ito kaagad-agad dahil iyon ang (If only we can, we wanted to finish this because that is our) objective. But we also understand that insurgency is a multi-faceted ),” Aguilar added.
By increasing the operational tempo, Aguilar directed ground troops to maximize the available forces that they have to fast-track the defeat of the insurgents.
Aguilar estimated the remaining communist forces to be about 2,000.
Meanwhile, Bacarro also emphasized his guidance to the troops to fortify the country’s territorial defense.
“It’s the President’s declaration that we will not yield a single square inch of our territory. How can we do that? There are other sources of national power that can be utilized by the President and of course, we renounce the use of war. I think the strategy must be carefully crafted but that is beyond us, the armed forces. We only do what is required of us to do,” Aguilar said.
Bacarro took helm at the AFP last Monday, succeeding General Andres Centino.