LUCENA CITY, Philippines – In his visit to the 203rd Infantry Brigade in Bansug, Oriental Mindoro on October 29, 2014 to check on the current status of the internal peace and security operations in the island provinces of Marinduque and Mindoro, AFP Southern Luzon Commander Major General Ricardo R Visaya ordered his field commanders to find, fight and win against the NPAs there.
Colonel Mariano Antonio S Perez, Jr, 203rd Infantry Brigade Commander reported his units accomplishments from January 1, 2014 to date.
According to Colonel Perez, the brigade neutralized 12 NPAs, discovered 13 NPA camps and cleared two of 13 enemyaffected or influenced barangays. Based on available data, there are only 66 NPAs remaining in the island.
Colonel Perez also reported the units intensified stakeholder engagements and other roles like support to law enforcement, support to environmental protection and support to humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
Having achieved these humble accomplishments, Major General Visaya encouraged his commanders to strive more in their campaign efforts.
“Develop a tactic to find the enemy, fight them then of course to win against them,” Major General Visaya said.
“Let us not be contented with what weve accomplished now, we have a long way to go,” Major General Visaya said. “Be an active commander,” he added.
He also visited Occidental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali, Jr in Calapan, Occidental Mindoro where the two leaders talked about their intention and commitment to make Mindoro a more peaceful and developed province.
Earlier in Marinduque, Major General Visaya was warmly welcomed by Governor Carmencita Reyes. They talked about for an active participation of CAFGUs in the campaign against small scale illegal miners.
“We will have our CAFGUs trained on support to law enforcement operations to help address the province concern on illegal miners,” said Colonel Eric Parayno, Commander of the 201st Infantry Brigade who has operational jurisdiction over Marinduque.
SOLCOM continuous its focused military operations against the NPAs in Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions in order to have a more peaceful environment ready for further development.
