President Duterte was sick and absent in the assumption of Lt. Gen. Noel Clement as the chief of the 148,000-strong Armed Forces of the Philippines and the retirement honors for his predecessor, Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr., in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City last Tuesday.
It was the first time that Duterte skipped the change of command ceremony for his Armed Forces chief, said Col. Noel Detoyato, AFP public affairs chief.
Clement is the 52nd AFP chief and the sixth in the Duterte administration.
According to presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, the “punishing schedule” of the President in the previous days “slightly affected” his body temperature.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana presided the change of command ceremony between Clement and Madrigal in behalf of Duterte.
Duterte, in a prepared speech delivered by Lorenzana, said the government will continue to support the modernization of the AFP to enable it to better serve and defend the country.
“As your commander-in-chief, I assure you that the Philippine government will continue to support you as we upgrade your capabilities,” he said.
In his speech, Clement sought the cooperation of the thousands of men in uniform to sustain the military’s gains in its transformation efforts.
“If the caliber and the magnitude needed to sustain a progressionalist effort is intense and immense, then I believe that to whom it is given, much is also expected,” he said. (Martin Sadongdong)