The Philippine Army made a stride in organizing the Citizen
Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) with the provision of livelihood project
to uplift its members' economic condition.
The CAFGU is considered a force multiplier and a regular
unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
Ryan Bonite, 22, a resident of far-flung village in Tigaon
town, is among the 4,000 CAFGU members being alleviated by the formation of a
multi-purpose cooperative that the Army’s 22nd Infantry Battalion started last
year.
Bonite said before his enlistment into the CAFGU battalion,
his life was nothing but full of misery with no hope in sight to end the
gnawing poverty his farming family experienced every day.
He graduated from high school in their village but, he said,
his educational attainment could not land him any decent job.
More so, his pockets were always empty to even afford him to
leave their village to apply for a job in the town center.
“Any where I turned, it seemed to be I am on a dead end and
cursed to live in abject poverty in my lifetime,” Bonite said.
He said his life started to make a different turn when a
friend encouraged him to join the CAFGU in 2012 -- and then he made it when he
passed the basic military training.
Mark Joseph Ronato, 27, another member of the same CAFGU
battalion, tells the same story as that of Bonite.
His enlistment has turned his life around from hopelessness
to something to hope for.
Both of them and the rest of the CAFGU members now look
forward that every end of the month they receive remuneration from the
government, which somehow makes a big difference from their previous situation
of nothing to look forward to in any day of the month.
As CAFGU members, Bonite and Ronato perform their duties for
the AFP for 15 days and the rest of the days of the months, they are free to
work on their farms or do work for their families.
They are receiving Php4,500 and make both ends meet with
their work outside the AFP.
“The CAFGU is part of the regular reserve force and not a
paramilitary unit convened only for counterinsurgency. It is integrated into
the military chain of command and is subject to all applicable military laws,
rules, and regulations,” according to Herman Joseph S. Kraft, assistant
professor of Political Science of the University of the Philippines in Diliman,
Quezon City.
Since the CAFGU belongs to the AFP Reserve Force, the
government and the AFP reject the characterization of the CAFGU as either a
militia or paramilitary unit, Kraft added.
Lt. Col. Andrew Costelo, the commanding officer of the 22nd
IB, said CAFGU members belong to CAFGU Active Auxilliary (CAA) who were
selected and screened from the communities and must have clean records.
“CAAs are composed of courageous civilian volunteers who
signified to be part of the territorial forces in securing their local
communities against the lawless elements that foster threat in their locality.
Hence, they are part-time soldiers who act as force multiplier to the regular
Army forces in the region. Majority of the said group belongs to the poor
families in their respective communities,” Costelo said.
He said the battalion leadership fully understands the
implication of the small allowance the CAFGU members receive so that they
devised a way for them to earn additional income and support to their families.
1Lt. Joash Pramis, civil military operations officer, said
they have transformed the CAFGU into a multi-purpose cooperative registered as
Valor Multi-purpose Cooperative.
Pramis said the cooperative started with about Php500,000
capital collected as membership fees from the members of the CAFGU battalion.
He said the cooperative provides members of cheaper basic
commodities and soft loans with low interest at 2.5 percent and deductible from
their monthly allowances.
Ronato said the cooperative has weaned him away from loan
sharks whom he used to run to whenever he is in dire need of cash since he
sends a sibling to college.
Master Sergeant Candido Gapang, chairman of Valor
Multi-purpose Cooperative, said they started the cooperative in the first week
of September last year.
Gapang said they had to go through the learning process
wherein they had to temper the expectations from the members of getting
immediate benefits in terms of dividends.
He said that through values formation they were able to put
the frame of mind of the members to the proper cooperative orientation which
fueled the success of their operation so far after almost a year in operation.
Pramis said that aside from the cooperative development, the
CAFGU battalion is implementing livelihood programs in coordination with
government agencies that provide livelihood training and income-generating
skills to CAFGU members and their families.
He said 213 CAFGU men and their family members have been
given training in organic fertilizer making, organic farming, cooking, and food
processing.
“The Army leadership not only inculcates sense and direction
to the life of CAFGU members but it aslo fully changes their way of life. They
turn idle life into a meaningful one, incapable individuals to productive
members of the society and dreams into reality,” Costelo said.
He added that “uplifting and changing one’s life is harder
than fighting our enemies in the battlefield. Here in our battalion, we just
not teach how to win over our enemies but more on winning life’s challenges.”
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