Tugade joins PAF as reserve lt. colonel

MANILA, Philippines — Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade has joined the reserve officer corps of the Air Force with the rank of lieutenant colonel, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced yesterday.

Tugade is the latest addition of key and prominent government officials who have enlisted in the reserve military force, after Senators Manny Pacquiao (Army); Loren Legara (Air Force); Vicente Sotto (Army), Rep. Feliciano Belmonte (Navy), Rep. Vilma Santos (Air Force) and Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista (Army).

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and AFP chief, Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero, themselves oversaw Tugade’s donning of rank at the Hall of Flags, DND building at Camp Aguinaldo on Tuesday.

“We are happy that there are people in high places of government, people of prominence  who have joined  the AFP as reservists,” AFP Public Affairs Office (PAO) chief. Col. Edgard Arevalo said.

Reserve officers and reserve enlisted personnel or the so-called weekend warriors of the military are not entitled to any compensation for their military related-services to the government, unless they are called to active duty (CAD).

In times of man-made and natural calamities, the AFP reserve force are usually first responders in the conduct of  the military’s Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) operations.

“They don’t have any pay. Their joining the reserve force is purely voluntary done out of love and patriotism to the country,” Arevalo said.

He said the AFP welcomes Tugade as a reserve officer that could help the military since the Department of Transportation is a vital agency in cases of national emergencies.

Arevalo said that aside from government officials, a lot of key personalities in the private sector including engineers, doctors and lawyers, have expressed their intention to also join the reserve officer corps of the AFP’s three major services – the Army, Air Force and the Navy.

Following the five-month fighting in Marawi, the AFP has dispatched a contingent of reserve military engineers, reserve military doctors and nurses to help assist in the rehabilitation of the city and at the same time address the health concerns of displaced residents.