Negros Scout Rangers now in Samar

From the Visayan Daily Star (Oct 25): Negros Scout Rangers now in Samar

The elite 1st Scout Ranger Battalion of the Philippine Army, whose members were supposed to return to Negros after their brief stint in Zamboanga City, have been redeployed to northern Samar.

This was confirmed yesterday by Lt. Col. Oriel Pangcog, 1st SRB commander, whose unit is now under the supervision of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division.

The three companies of the 1st SRB had been dispatched to Samar on Oct. 16, with a skeletal force remaining in Negros Occidental, that is expected to join them soon, Pangcog said.

Military records show that the 1st SRB had been under the operational control of Army’s 3rd Infantry Division in Western Visayas since 2004.

The Negros-based Scout Rangers were among the AFP elite units that had fought the Moro National Liberation Front fighters in more than two weeks of intense gunbattle in Zamboanga City.

Pangcog said Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar led the send-off ceremony for the 1st SRB troopers, whom she thanked for their peacekeeping efforts in her city.

The AFP Western Mindanao Command headed by Negrense Lt. Gen. Rey Ardo initially conferred Gold Cross Medals, the third highest Philippine military medals, to three members of the 1st SRB, in recognition of the bravery they displayed during the Zamboanga crisis.

Pangcog said they have also recommended that several 1st SRB troopers should be awarded the Distinguish Conduct Star for heroism.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2013/October/25/topstory9.htm