ARMED Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff, Gen. Andres C. Centino, on Wednesday paid his final official visit to most of the significant Command positions where he spent, the Army's 4th Infantry Division, in Cagayan de Oro City, military officials said Thursday.

Centino was given a battalion-sized arrival honor and a gun salute.

The Army's 4ID has molded Gen. Centino into the kind of leader who prepared him in his role as AFP Chief of Staff, from the Army's 26th Infantry Battalion commander based in Talacogon, Agusan del Sur, then as 4ID commander.

During his talk to the troops, Centino conveyed his thanks to 4ID for helping shaped his career.

Gen. Centino, was the 57th Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who will relinquish his post on August 8, 2022.

The change of command for the new AFP chief of staff will be on August 8, according to Philippine Army’s spokesperson Lieutenant Col. Xerxes Trinidad.

Trinidad said Centino will step down from the military's top post following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has chosen Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, commander of the Armed Forces the Philippines – Southern Luzon Command as new AFP chief of staff.

Republic Act 11709, signed by former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on April 13, 2022 sets a fixed three-year tour of duty for the AFP chief of staff vice chief of staff, the deputy chief of staff, the major service commanders (Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force, Philippine Navy), unified command commanders, and inspector general "unless sooner terminated by the President.

Based on RA 11709, Gen. Bacarro will be the first CSAFP to be given a fixed three-year term.

A graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, Bacarro was born on Sept. 18, 1966 in San Fernando, La Union.

He graduated in the upper quartile of PMA “Maringal” Class of 1988.

In an earlier press statement, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles announced that the outgoing CS-AFP Gen. Centino, a classmate of Bacarro in PMA, is slated for a new post befitting a former chief of staff.

Meanwhile, Army's 4ID commander Major Gen. Wilbur C. Mamawag thanked Centino for his immersed leadership and unrelenting style of supervision which stands as his strong legacy to the young and impending 4ID troop leaders.

As a sign of gratitude, Mamawag gave a “Lambitan” bolo (sword), a traditional blade associated with the Higaonon, Talaandig, Bukidnon, Umayamnun, and Pulanginon tribes in Mindanao, to General Centino, who happened to be an adopted son of the Higaonon tribe in Caraga, according to 4ID public affairs chief Major Francisco Garello.