Ex-AFP spokesman dies

MANILA, Philippines – Brig Gen Daniel Lucero, commanding general of the military’s 1st infantry division and former Armed Forces spokesman, died after diving with some of his troops Sunday afternoon, June 2, the military said.

Lucero died at around 3:30 pm after diving off Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur, with some of his fellow officers, according to AFP spokesman Brig Gen Domingo Tutaan Jr. Lucero was 53.

His body has been brought to the headquarters of the 1st infantry division in Zamboanga del Sur.

A key advocate of the peace process with both Moro and communist groups, Lucero graduated in 1983 at the Philippine Military Academy. In November 2009, he said in an essay that appeared in Newsbreak: “This is what I want to argue: that the military mindset, which stresses mainly combat operations in confronting the insurgency, is the greatest hindrance to solving it. The means inside the army’s toolbox should not be just guns and bullets.”

He served as AFP spokesman during the Arroyo government and was named one of the Outstanding Soldiers of the Philippines in 2011. He also served in the UN peacekeeping force.

Lucero finished his Master of Arts degree in International Relations at the Australian National University. In 2001, he led the Army’s 18th Infantry Battalion, then deployed in Basilan, to its first-ever Philippine Army Streamer Award. – Rappler.com