Gen. Generoso Senga, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, presided over the changing of the guards from Vice Admiral Ernesto de Leon, who retired from the service effective last Dec. 5, to Mayuga.
The turnover ceremony was held at the Philippine Navy headquarters on Roxas Blvd. in Manila and was attended by Rep. Prospero Pichay and Defense Undersecretary Jose Santos who represented Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. who is in the United States on an official mission.
Senga also conferred the Philippine Legion of Honor-Degree of Commander to De Leon, a member of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1972, for his major contributions to the Philippine Navy during his stint as Navy flag officer-in-command.
In his assumption speech, Mayuga said the "time has come for us to be daring and innovative in our thinking, as well as to be resourceful in acquiring the means in the pursuit of our role as the primary steward of our seas, shores, borders, and maritime resources."
Before Defense and AFP officials, and guests, Mayuga set three priorities for the Navy: 1. Focusing on maritime security operations, 2. Moral, welfare and discipline, and, 3. Maritime cooperation.
"The first priority is the revival of the fleet marine team to project combat power from the seas as the Navy’s distinctive contribution to international security operations and combatting terrorism," according to the new PN chief.
Delving on other priorities, Mayuga said the PN will raise its maritime situational awareness and interdiction readiness levels in order to secure the integrity for the national territory and protect the country’s marine resources and interests.
He said he will focus on the welfare of Navy personnel by addressing their housing and medical needs, including those of their families, adding that "no sailor or marine will have to pay for his medicine."
"With the help from our compatriots and friends, we will build healthy naval communities, and we will not just build new housing facilities, but more importantly, we will endeavor to recover by legal means naval facilities lost by operation of law," he pointed out.
A member of PMA Class 1974, Mayuga will celebrate his 55th birth anniversary today. His assumption to office as Navy chief yesterday spared him from the Armed Forces "Attrition Law" which bar military officers from assuming a higher position in the military hierarchy if he has less than a year left in the service.
Mayuga, former AFP Inspector General, is set to retire from the service on Dec. 9, 2006.
Senga expressed confidence that Mayuga will take the Philippine Navy to greater heights, adding that the new navy chief’s track record in the AFP General Headquarters and in various naval units attests to his capability to lead the command.
For his part, Admiral de Leon in bowing out of the military service, stressed that "It is only after my service that I have felt true glory and true honor — the glory of duty done, the honor of the integrity of principle, kept to the end."
De Leon spent 33 challenging years in the military.
"To a sailor, glory and honor can only be won where there is danger — when the smoke and fire have gone — and the first rays of the sunshines upon you after laboring through a stormy night," De Leon said in peroration.
Parañaque City Mayor Florencio M. Bernabe and Bacoor Mayor Jessie Castillo, both relatives of Mayuga, graced the turnover ceremony.
