AN Army general is the new commander of the AFP’s Special Operations Command (SOCOM), an elite unit leading the military’s “special operations” across the country.
Maj. Gen. Ferdinand Napuli assumed the post of SOCOM commander on Wednesday during rites presided over by AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr at the command’s headquarters in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.
Napuli was the Army’s inspector general prior to his designation as SOCOM commander.
“I am confident that SOCOM will continue to be at the tip of the spear in defending our people, protecting our sovereignty, and confronting threats with speed and silent precision,” Brawner said in his address.
“We have reached the end of the ceremony, but the work of the Command — its vigilance, its readiness, its fight — never pauses. In fact, it continues with a renewed force,” added Brawner.
Napuli succeeded Brig. Gen. Patrick de Villa who assumed the SOCOM post in an acting capacity last February following the retirement of then-SOCOM commander Maj. Gen. Freddie dela Cruz.
De Villa served as acting SOCOM commander in concurrent capacity as SOCOM deputy commander.
Napuli, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1992 (Tanglaw-Diwa), also previously served as commander of the Army’s Special Forces Regiment, and deputy commander of the Presidential Security Group which is in charge of the security of the president and his family, during the time of former President Duterte.
