A MILITARY commander has been promoted to the rank of lieutenant general more than two months after taking over the command of a key military unit in charge of the counter-insurgency campaign in southern Luzon.
Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. donned the new rank to now Lt. Gen. Facundo Palafox IV, commander of the AFP Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) during ceremonies at the AFP general headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo last Wednesday.
“This rank is a call to action, to continue leading with honor and to uphold the cornerstone of our institution,” Brawner told Palafox during the rites.
“Your leadership will shape the future, not just through the decision you make, but through the example you set,” added Brawner.
Palafox, a member of the Philippine Military Academy class of 1990, took command of SOLCOM last March 2, replacing now retired Lt. Gen. Efren Baluyot.
Palafox previously served as the commander of the Army’s Army Division, commander of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade, commander of the Army Civil Military Operations Regiment, and Army assistant chief of staff for civil military operations.
He attended the Combating Terrorism Fellowship Program at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California in May 2016.
He is a recipient of Distinguish Service Stars, Military Meritorious Medals, and the University of the Philippines’s Centennial Award for Public Safety and Administration.
As Solcom commander, Palafox is leading efforts to end communist rebels in Calabarzon and Bicol regions and in the provinces of Oriental Mindoro Oriental, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, and Romblon.
