Army unit receives new facilities for peacebuilding efforts in Davao del Sur

COTABATO CITY — Officials inaugurated new infrastructure facilities at a military headquarters in Matanao, Davao del Sur, on Saturday, October 24. The facilities will serve as venues for multisectoral dialogues aimed at maintaining peace in the municipality, which was recently declared free of the presence of the New People’s Army.

Radio reports on Monday, October 26, said Major Gen. Alvin Luzon, commander of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division and Rep. John Tracy Cagas (Davao del Sur), led the inauguration of the administration building and a covered court at the headquarters of the 39th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Asbang, Matanao.

The facilities were funded by Cagas' office. The lawmaker has supported the 10th ID's peacebuilding activities across Davao del Sur, where the NPA previously operated in uplands towns. These towns were declared “liberated from the NPA” last year by local executives and Army and police officials.

In a message delivered during the ceremony, Cagas said he appreciated the role of soldiers and policemen in maintaining peace in Davao del Sur, one of the provinces in Region 11, whose capital is Digos City.

“We in the 10th ID are grateful to Congressman Cagas for these projects,” Luzon said during the event, attended by Brigadier General Apollo Jun Lamaton, commander of the 1002nd Infantry Brigade and the commanding officer of the 39th IB, Lt. Col. Hector Estolas.

Luzon said personnel of the 39th IB would use the new administration building and covered court at their headquarters as “springboards” for multisectoral peacebuilding programs aimed at sustaining peace now Matanao's barangays, where NPA guerillas once operated and periodically collected food and money from villagers at gunpoint.