Former AFP chief Visaya is new NIA head

March 7, 2017

President Rodrigo Duterte said he has appointed a retired military general as the new head of the National Irrigation Administration.

"Yes. I have appointed retired General Chief of Staff (Ricardo) Visaya," Duterte told reporters in an interview in Malacanang.

Visaya replaced Duterte's "friend" and former campaign spokesman Peter Lavina whom the president asked to quit last week due to corruption allegations against him.

The new NIA chief retired from the Armed Forces of the Philippines in December last year upon reaching 56 years old, the mandatory retirement age of a man in uniform. Celerina Monte/DMS