PA units in Bicol’s troubled spots adjudged regional ‘bests’

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 21): PA units in Bicol’s troubled spots adjudged regional ‘bests’

In troubled spots of Bicol, government soldiers are proving to be agents of development and peace rather than government combatants dealing with misguided elements. This positive transformation has been cited when the 9th Infantry Division (ID) of the Philippine Army (PA) based at Camp Martillana here over the weekend was awarded with honors and two of its field units — the 903rd Infantry Brigade (IB) and the 9th Infantry Battalion (IBn)- were recognized for being the best among the rest in the region in achieving its peace and development goals last year.

The 9th ID is the unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that handles operational and supervisory control over all PA field commands assigned across the Bicol region. Under it are three infantry brigades strategically distributed to cover the region’s six provinces, seven cities and 102 municipalities.

The 903rd IB, which is based in Castilla, Sorsogon, is the brigade that covers Sorsogon and Masbate provinces in the conduct of Internal Peace and Security Operations (IPSOs), while the 9IBn is its operational arm in Masbate. Both provinces are considered as “high security risk” areas in the region, being turfs of insurgency and private armed groups (PAGs).

These two commands were declared best in Bicol in 2012 not only because of their successful conduct of IPSOs that resulted in the neutralization of various elements of the outlawed New People’s Army (NPA), said Maj. Gen. Romeo Calizo, the 9th ID commanding general during the awarding rites. “Not only that they have been protecting Masbateños from criminal acts of PAGs and the Sorsogueños from NPA atrocities but also more because they performed exemplarily as a government campaigner for peace and implementer of development projects that now benefit poor far-flung communities towards freedom from extreme poverty,” Calizo stressed.

He said the 903rd IB, aggressively pursued efforts to link itself with both public and private agencies towards helping in the development of impoverished and insurgency-torn communities in the two provinces.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=489377