BRIGADIER GENERAL ARCHIMEDES H VIAJE AFP (Ret), PhD, MNSA
President, National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP)
BRIGADIER GENERAL ARCHIMEDES H VIAJE AFP was born on 14 May 1963 in Isabela, Negros Occidental, Philippines. A model student and leader in his primary and secondary years in school, he graduated Valedictorian both from the Isabela West Elementary School in 1976, and from the Marian Academy in his hometown of Isabela, Negros Occidental in 1980. After two years in the La Salle College in Bacolod City, he entered the Philippine Military Academy and graduated as a member of the Sinagtala Class of 1986. Commissioned in the Philippine Navy upon graduation, he finished his junior billet aboard PS 74 (BRP Rizal), PG 104 (BRP Bagong Silang), and LT 87 (BRP Cotabato del Sur), and assumed various critical positions of responsibility ashore.
Responding to another noble call, he joined the Corps of Professors in 1998. He took the helm of the Command Guidance and Counselling Office of the Philippine Military Academy in 2004. After finishing his PhD in 2010, he assumed as Head of the Department of Social Sciences of the Academic Group, PMA. Immediately after, he served as the Chief of the Military Affairs Division and Chief of Staff of the President of the National Defense College of the Philippines until 2012, and as the Inspector General of the PMA from 2013 to 2014.
His exemplary academic achievements include completing three master’s degrees: a Master in Business Administration from Ateneo Graduate School of Business, Master of Science in Psychology from Saint Louis University in Baguio, and Master in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines. In 2010, he finished his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Psychology at the Ateneo De Manila University.
He is also a registered Psychologist and Career Executive Service Eligible (CESE).
He was appointed as the Dean, Corps of Professors, Armed Forces of the Philippines on 14 October 2014 and promoted to the rank of Brigadier General on 14 October 2015. Among his notable achievements as Dean of the Corps of Professors include increasing the Authorized Troops Strength of the COP to its highest ever in the history of the organization and spearheading efforts of the organizational transformation as the Office of the Dean, Corps of Professors achieved Proficiency Status in the AFP Transformation Roadmap Institutionalization Pathway. He also led benchmarking activities to further improve the services of the COP in various AFP units, conducted with foreign military educational institutions in Cambodia, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, and Brunei. Additionally, he presented the best of the AFP military educators to the international academic community through the International Conference on Resilience, the planning and execution of which he led in cooperation with various agencies of the government. BGEN VIAJE also assured the future generations of COP members a home in the General Headquarters, AFP by working toward the construction and completion of the ODCOP Multi-purpose Building.
He is happily married to the former Maria Rowena Javier. They have two adult daughters, Elielle and Gail, a son-in-law, Armand, and grandchildren, named Lizzie and Dei.