PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has appointed Major General Bartolome Vicente O. Bacarro as the next head of the military’s Southern Luzon Command, according to the Defense department.

Mr. Bacarro will assume the position on July 21, Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana told BusinessWorld on Wednesday.

Mr. Bacarro will replace Lieutenant General Antonio G. Parlade, Jr., who currently serves as a spokesman for the government’s anti-communist task force.

Mr. Parlade, who has been controversial for red-tagging civic leaders and journalists, is set to retire on July 26.

Mr. Bacarro received the country’s highest military award for courage, the Medal of Valor, for leading his troop in repulsing 150 communist rebels in Isabela in northern Philippines in January 1991, according to the state news agency. He was a young lieutenant at that time.

In 2019, Mr. Bacarro resigned from his position as Commandant of Cadets at the Philippine Military Academy following the death of Cadet Fourth Class Darwin Dormitorio due to hazing.

In April this year, Mr. Bacarro was installed as the commanding general of the Philippine Army’s Jungle Fighter Division. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

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