Vicente Piccio Jr.

Piccio entered the Philippine Air Force Flying School in 1949 and graduated in 1951.[1] Commissioned as second lieutenant in the reserve force, he was assigned as flight commander and instructor at Fernando Air Base in Lipa.[1] A year later, he transferred to Basa Air Base in Floridablanca where he transitioned in the P-51 Mustang.[1] In 1954, he completed the Squadron Officers Course at the Air Force Officer School.[1] He was promoted to first lieutenant on December 2, 1954, and integrated into the regular force on 29 December 1955.[1] He was promoted to captain on 7 April 1956.[1] He was appointed Division Commander of the 3rd Air Division in 1978 and promoted to brigadier general on 11 July 1979.[1] On 16 July 1980, he was designated as the commanding officer of the Aviation Security Command and in 1981 became the vice-commander of the Philippine Air Force in concurrent capacity.[1] In the same year, he was appointed president of Military Commission Number 5.[1] After a year, on April 5, 1982, he became commanding general of the Philippine Air Force.[1][2] On May 2 of the same year he was promoted to major general.[1]

Piccio was responsible for issuing in 1985 a directive banning taxpayer-subsidized Philippine Air Force personnel from traveling or gaining employment abroad “without presidential clearance or authority”.[3]

Piccio was born in Iloilo City to a family from the Karay-a town of Dueñas.[8] He grew up in Maasin,[9] another Karay-a town.[8] He later married Nena Hernández of Belison, Antique and with her had seven children: Vincent Bernard, Elizabeth Mary, Philip Gregory “Dobol P”, Bernard, Robert Ephrem, Christopher and Paul Anthony. He had 7 grandchildren including: Alexandra Piccio, Christopher "C. J." Piccio, Roberto Piccio, Paula Piccio, Ariana Castrence, and Julian “Ian” Castrence.[1] He died on April 28, 2015, in Belison.[10]