AN awardee of the Medal of Valor, the highest military decoration in combat, has is the new commander of an Army unit leading the campaign against communist rebels and other threat groups in parts of southern Luzon.
Maj. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro took over the helm of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division based in Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, on Monday during rites presided by acting Army chief Lt. Gen. Jose Faustino.
Bacarro replaced Maj. Gen. Greg Almerol who was named commander of the AFP Eastern Mindanao Command in February.
Bacarro, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1988, was last assigned as AFP Internal Auditor.
Prior to that, he served as commandant of the Cadet Corps of the PMA in Baguio City. He and then-PMA superintendent Lt Gen Ronnie Evangelista resigned from their positions in 2019 for command responsibility over the death by hazing of PMA cadet Darwin Dormitorio.
Bacarro and Evangelista were charged over the hazing but were cleared by government prosecutors for lack of probable cause. Four PMA cadets and three PMA Station Hospital officers are currently facing charges before a Baguio City over the hazing.
Bacarro also previously served as chief of staff of the 4th Infantry Division in Cagayan de Oro City, commander of the 502nd Infantry Brigade base in Isabela, Army spokesman, and AFP public affairs chief.
Bacarro is also a graduate of US Army Command and General Staff Course in Kansas in the US.
Bacarro was conferred the MOV “for acts of conspicuous courage, gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty” during an encounter with NPA rebels in Isabela in 1991. Bacarro was then a second lieutenant and commander of a Cafgu company. The encounter left 16 NPA rebels dead. His company lost three men in the 10-hour firefight.
Taking over Bacarro’s post as AFP internal auditor is Brig. Gen. Henry Doyaoen, commander of the Army’s 503rd Brigade.
At least 40 soldiers have been conferred the MOV. A few are in active service, including AFP chief Gen. Cirilito Sobejana who earned the medal for a feat against the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan in 1995.
