Maj. Gen. Delfin N. Lorenzana AFP (Ret)

A key component of good governance is the efficient stewardship of government assets and resources. Government corporations and financial institutions, as well as instrumentalities with corporate powers, are all duty bound to judiciously exercise the fiduciary duty to preserve and maintain state assets. Through skillful planning, valuable yet underutilized government properties should be tapped and converted into productive and premier centers of economic growth and activity.

The military bases in the country are among the prime assets that can and must be transformed into key commercial and business centers, townships, and new smart cities; and statutorily tasked to do this is the Bases Conversion Development Authority. Kabalita

Major General Delfin N Lorenzana (Ret.) was appointed Chairman of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) on 7 July 2022. BCDA is a government-owned corporation tasked with converting former US military bases into modern mixed-used communities. Prior to this job, Major General Lorenzana was the Secretary of National Defense during the Duterte administration from 2016 to 2022. As Secretary of National Defense, he chaired the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and the National Task Force Against COVID-19.

Major General Lorenzana served as the Defense and Armed Forces Attaché in Washington DC from 2002 to 2004. As Defense Attaché, he oversaw and monitored military bilateral relations between the Philippines and the US on the Visiting Forces Agreement, military exercises, grants, trainings and foreign military sales. In 2002, he helped develop the Terms of Reference for the highly successful Balikatan Exercises between the AFP and the US Pacific Command in Basilan, which aimed to neutralize the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in southern Philippines. He retired from the military service in October 2004.

Immediately upon retirement, he was designated as the Special Presidential Representative and Head of the Office of Veteran Affairs (OVA) at the Philippine Embassy, Washington DC from 2004 to 2016. His task as OVA Head was to lobby for the grant of benefits to Filipinos who served under the US Army during World War II (WW2). His efforts resulted in the passage of the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund amounting to $198M which granted a one-time payment to surviving Filipino WW2 veterans and the Congressional Gold Medal for Filipino WW2 veterans.

Major General Lorenzana graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1973. He obtained his Master of Business Administration (major in Operations Research) from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. He earned his Graduate Diploma in Defense and Strategic studies at the Australian National University in Canberra. He likewise underwent seminars for Senior International Leaders at Harvard University and the Crisis Management Course at the US State Department. His military schooling includes the Infantry Basic Course, the Scout Ranger Course, Airborne Course, the Royal Marines Commando Course in UK, the Infantry Advance Course in Ft Benning USA and the Command and General Staff Course.

In his more than three decades of military service, Major General Lorenzana commanded a Scout Ranger Company, a Scout Ranger Battalion, an Infantry Brigade, the Army Light Armored Brigade and the Army Special Operations Command. He also held staff positions at the Brigade, Army Headquarters, Unified Commands and at the AFP General Headquarters. He served as Instructor of Ranger Tactics and Infantry Tactics at the Scout Ranger Training Unit and at the Infantry School, Army Training Command, respectively.

His awards include the Philippines Presidential Legion of Honor (Degree of Officer), the US Presidential Legion of Honor (Degree of Officer), four (4) Distinguished Service Stars, and three (3) Gold Cross Medals for Gallantry in Combat. As Secretary of National Defense, Major General Lorenzana received the Order of Lakandula Grand Cross (Bayani) from President Duterte in June 2022. In August 2022, the Indonesian Government conferred on him the Medal of Peace for his crucial role in the successful rescue of Indonesian fishermen in southern Philippines kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in 2019. Recently, on June 2023, the Japan Government conferred on him the prestigious Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, for his role in strengthening the Japan-Philippines bilateral relations.

Major General Lorenzana and his wife Edith have three daughters, one son and one granddaughter.