3rd ID retains troops in Escalante City

ILOILO CITY, Philippines —The 3rd Infantry Division has decided to retain the newly-retrained troops of the 62nd Infantry Battalion in Escalante City, Negros Occidental.

Major Gen. Jose Mabanta, 3rd ID commander and acting commander of the Central Command, said the people’s clamor to retain the 62nd IB was the basis of the 3rd ID’s decision not to withdraw the troops there. 

Soldiers from 62nd IB, led by Lt. Col. Efren Morados, recently concluded their more than three-month training under the support of Mayor Melecio Yap, who allowed the battalion to use more than 40 hectares of government land in Barangay Langub as the training site.

“Iba talaga when the chief executives of LGUs are the ones rallying behind for peace. In the spirit of ‘bayanihan’ we immediately considered the request. We know the security challenges in Escalante and we cannot afford to vacate the area,” Mabanta said.

Mabanta said that Escalante City’s support to peace will definitely contribute to the overall effort of Negros Occidental’s flagship project dubbed as the 5-Year Peace and Development Project for Communities Affected by Armed Conflict.

“Just like in Bohol, success is hinged on the commitment of heads of LGU’s and all stakeholders as much as on military operations,” he said.

Bohol province is the nation’s model of an insurgency-free province. It was declared insurgency-free in 2010 and has since benefited from it with its tourism driven approach for the economy. Escalante City could be Western Visayas’s epitome of an effort towards that same objective for peace, said Mabanta.

Morados, for his part, said it was the first time that the retraining of an Infantry Battalion was conducted in an area where security is a challenge. “Hindi namin ito magagawa without the support of the LGU,” he said. (FREEMAN)