PRESIDENT Duterte has promoted Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay to general, about two months after the latter assumed the top military force.
Gapay received his fourth star in rites held at the Department of National Defense building in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City yesterday, led by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
The four-star rank is given only to the Armed Forces chief.
The ceremony was attended by Armed Forces vice chief Vice Adm. Gaudencio Collado and witnessed by members of the Gapay family.
Navy Capt. Jonathan Zata, chief of the AFP pubic affairs office, said President Duterte signed the promotion papers of Gapay last Monday. He said the AFP chief’s promotion was effective September 2. Gapay assumed the top military post on August 3,
Zata said the President endorsed Gapay’s promotion to the Commission on Appointments on September 2.
