MANILA – Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana relieved Major General Alex Luna of the Armed Forces Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence for the release of erroneous list of alleged New People’s Army (NPA) members.
Lorenzana said in a press statement on Thursday that the publication of the erroneous list was “an unforgivable lapse” on the part of Lana.
“His negligence only shows a lackadaisical attitude towards his job resulting to confusion and damage to reputation. We do not take these offenses lightly and I want to hold the people involved accountable,” Lorenzana he added.
“That language is needed to jolt the whole organization into taking their jobs seriously. There is an investigation going on. But I based my decision under the principle of command responsibility: a commander is responsible for whatever his unit does or fails to do. Alam nila lahat to,” the secretary uttered.
Luna is the most ranking AFP official to be relieved from this post, in the aftermath of the public backlash the defense department is facing over its continuing anti-insurgency drive.
He was designated as AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence in October 2020. Previously, he was the regional military commander for Metro Manila (Joint Task Force-NCR).
The AFP Information Exchange earlier published a list of students from the University of the Philippines who were allegedly recruited by the communist groups and were killed during armed encounters with the military. The list has since been deleted.
AFPs Civil-Military Operations Office had apologized for the “inconsistencies” in that list of students who allegedly joined the rebel group.
The controversial list came out after the DND’s unilateral abrogation of its 31-year-old deal with the University of the Philippines (UP) on the prohibition on the entry of state forces in campuses wherein the Defense secretary has claimed that UP campuses have become breeding grounds for communists./PN
