New battalion fielded in Bulacan

NORZAGARAY, Bulacan — The military has beefed up its forces in Bulacan with a new battalion securing coastal areas against communist rebels.

Col. Noel Clement, commanding officer of the Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion, said the new battalion — the 3rd IB headed by Col. Gerard Velez, was deployed in the coastal border areas of Bulacan and Pampanga to further neutralize the rebels’ collection of "revolutionary taxes."

The deployment came three days after Col. Rommel Gomez of the 703rd Infantry Brigade told The STAR that the Armed Forces was strengthening its forces in Bulacan despite the retirement of Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan.

Militant groups have tagged Palparan, the outgoing commanding general of the 7th Infantry Division based at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, in extra-judicial killings and abduction of known activists in Central Luzon.

Prior to the 3rd IB’s deployment, the military had two battalions in Bulacan, augmented by the Army Special Forces and the Malolos Task Force headed by Lt. Col. Rogelio Boac.

Clement said the Malolos Task Force may be re-assigned elsewhere with the deployment of the 3rd IB, but nothing is definite yet.

Meanwhile, Clement has encouraged Dumagat natives living in the Sierra Madre range not to support the communist rebels, timber poachers and small-scale illegal loggers that threaten the 63,000-hectare Angat watershed.

In a dialogue with hundreds of Dumagats the other day, Clement said they endanger not only the forests, but also their lives if they provide refuge to the insurgents and timber poachers.

Tribal governor Delfin Friginal agreed, adding though that this would only succeed if the Dumagats would cooperate with the military.

Mendel Garcia, of the Angat watershed area team of the National Power Corp. (Napocor), said it may take some time before the tribal folk are able to resist the rebels and illegal loggers.

"They are very shy and unusually passive," he said.