Brigadier General Daniel Lucero, commander of the 103rd Infantry Brigade in Lanao del Sur province and a veteran officer who started his career in Mindanao, has replaced Major General Ricardo Rainier Cruz, an equally decorated officer who assumed Tuesday as the new chief of the Eastern Mindanao Command.
Lucero, who belongs to the Philippine Military Academy Class 1983, is the first in his class to assume as army division commander.
He was first assigned as a platoon leader in the Muslim provinces of Basilan and Sulu and fought insurgents, until his assignments brought him to Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, also in Mindanao; and eventually to Aurora province in Luzon as infantry brigade officer.
A holder of Master Degree in International Studies from the University of the Philippines, and Masters Degree on International Relations in Australia, Lucero also served as the first commander of the Philippine contingent to the United Nations mission on the Caribbean island from 2004 to 2005.
Lucero was awarded three Distinguished Service Star Medals, Gold Cross Medal, Outstanding Achievement Medal and the Honor Graduate Medal and a number of Military Merit Medals and one of the Metrobank Foundation 2011 awardees of The Outstanding Soldier of the Philippines.
Cruz, other hand, was instrumental in the successful government campaign against Moro and communist rebels in western Mindanao, particularly in Basilan and Zamboanga del Sur provinces. He was largely credited for maintaining peace and order in the Zamboanga Peninsula. (Mindanao Examiner)
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