Gazmin bids AFP goodbye

Chiara Zambrano, ABS-CBN News

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Now the Armed Forces gives its Testimonial Parade in honor of outgoing Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin <a href="https://twitter.com/ABSCBNNews">@ABSCBNNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/KbHhECabf4">pic.twitter.com/KbHhECabf4</a>— Chiara Zambrano (@chiarazambrano) <a href="https://twitter.com/chiarazambrano/status/747616445312315392">June 28, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="~//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>MANILA - A day after President Benigno Aquino III said goodbye to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as their commander-in-chief, it was outgoing Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin&#x27;s turn to be given a testimonial parade in his honor at Camp Aguinaldo.&quot;Thank you for having shared with each other more than 37 years of patriotism and heroism in our honored profession of arms,&quot; Gazmin told members of the Armed Forces during his farewell speech Tuesday.Gazmin entered military life as a cadet in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), graduating as part of the 1968 Class.During the martial law period, he became the commander of the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr.&#x27;s detention facility in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, after which the Aquino family remembered Gazmin&#x27;s compassion and care for his wedding godfather Ninoy.In 1986, when the Marcos regime was toppled, the late President Corazon Aquino personally selected Gazmin to be the commander of the Presidential Security Group, entrusting her life to the man who guarded her husband&#x27;s cell.In 1999, Gazmin became the 40th commanding general of the Philippine Army.When Mrs. Aquino&#x27;s only son became president, Gazmin was tapped again -- this time, not just to safeguard members of the Aquino family, but to protect the entire nation as the 35th secretary of the Department of National Defense (DND). &quot;Thank you for your deeds and sacrifices, so that our nation remains to be free, and our citizens continue to enjoy the blessings of life, freedom and liberty,&quot; Gazmin continued.Under the Aquino administration with Gazmin commanding the DND, the AFP received a windfall of equipment upgrades.At least P65.9 billion pesos was spent on modernizing the AFP, almost twice the amount that the past three administrations spent altogether.&quot;Our Armed Forces has now in its inventory newly acquired various types of flying, floating and mobile air, sea, and land assets; armaments; and equipment to boost its operational readiness and defense capabilities,&quot; said Gazmin.He also believes AFP modernization will continue.&quot;Our Armed Forces continue to be the future beneficiary of the ongoing projects that are now in the pipeline, that would ensure the continuity of its development and progress into a credible defense force,&quot; he said.AFP&#x27;s acting chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Glorioso Miranda, thanked Gazmin for these improvements. &quot;We honor him as the secretary of national defense under whose watch the [AFP] realized the most tangible and substantive upgrade in capability in decades,&quot; said Miranda.&quot;Indeed, things began to change for the better with Secretary Gazmin at the helm of the defense department, and the AFP modernization undeniably stands as one of the landmark achievements of the Aquino administration,&quot; he added.READ: <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/06/24/16/army-praises-gazmin-role-in-afp-modernization">Army praises Gazmin role in AFP modernization</a>Gazmin thanked the troops for efforts in eliminating internal security threats, particularly in &quot;vigilantly standing watch over threats of global terrorism&quot; and &quot;for persistently guarding against the occurrence of terroristic activities in the country.&quot;He also thanked them for their work in humanitarian assistance, and in helping ensure orderly elections. Gazmin also thanked the Armed Forces for their work in defending the country&#x27;s territory.AFP gradually procured assets such as frigates, strategic sealift vessels, and lead-in trainer jets in its efforts to build a credible defense against outside incursions, especially in the West Philippine Sea.

MANILA - A day after President Benigno Aquino III said goodbye to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the last time as their commander-in-chief, it was outgoing Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin's turn to be given a testimonial parade in his honor at Camp Aguinaldo.

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Gazmin bids AFP goodbye

Gazmin bids AFP goodbye

Chiara Zambrano,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jun 28, 2016 05:54 PM PHT

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Voltaire Gazmin

DND

AFP

defense

military

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