AFP flags at half-mast after general’s death in diving mishap

MANILA, Philippines - Flags at all Army headquarters nationwide and at Camp Aguinaldo were flown at half-mast yesterday in honor of Brig. Gen. Daniel Lucero, who died in a scuba diving accident in Zamboanga del Sur last Sunday.

“It’s a symbol of mourning, it’s a sign of respect as one of us passed away,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) public affairs chief Maj. Ramon Zagala said in an interview yesterday.

“The AFP leadership will accord the necessary honors that befit… Lucero,” he added.

Lucero’s remains lay in state yesterday at the Tabak Chapel in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur. The body is set to be airlifted today via a C-130 plane to Villamor Airbase in Pasay before it is to be brought to the Army headquarters at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig.

Lucero, the chief of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, reportedly collapsed after diving at the Tabak beach in Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur. The military official was then rushed to the Mendero Hospital in Pagadian City, where he died about three hours later.

The scuba-diving activity was meant to welcome 21 lieutenants who were newly assigned to the Army’s 1st division. 

Cpt. Jefferson Somera, spokesman of the Army’s 1st division, said he would remember Lucero as an approachable leader.

 â€œWe are shocked. We did not expect that one of the most approachable generals we had would lose his life in that incident,” Somera said in a phone interview.

 Zagala described Lucero as a “peacemaker,” someone “really focused on ending insurgency through peaceful means.”

 Lucero was a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy Class ’83. He handled numerous key posts in the military, including AFP spokesman, chief of the Army’s civil-military operations and commander of the Army’s 103rd brigade.

As Army civil-military operations chief, Lucero oversaw development projects designed to promote peace and encourage rebels to return to the fold of law. 

Lucero was also the commander of the Philippine contingent assigned to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti from December 2004 to 2005. Four days before his death, Lucero was given a UN Peacekeepers Award for his meritorious performance and significant contribution to peacekeeping during his tour of duty in Haiti.