Albay’s Salceda installed as 33rd Air Force Group Reserve commander

From the Business Mirror (Jul 24): Albay’s Salceda installed as 33rd Air Force Group Reserve commander

The Armed Forces has installed Albay Gov. Joey S. Salceda as the regional commander of the 33rd Air Force Group Reserve (AFGR) with the rank of lieutenant colonel, during the recent National Reservist Week Regional Convention here.

Rear Adm. Aurelio A. Rabusa, Armed Forces deputy chief of staff for reservist and retiree affairs (J-9), presided over the installation rites held at the Albay Astrodome in Legazpi City, and witnessed by Brig. Gen. Raymundo Elefanfe, commander of the Air Force Reserve Corps, military officers, as well as other reservists and guests.

Salceda’s installation also coincided with the graduation of 350 military reserve recruits from across the Bicol region. Military reservists are vital force multipliers of government troops in times of war and natural disasters. The country presently has about 350,000 reservists on standby and ready to respond during times of emergency as augmentation forces.

Rabusa said Salceda’s expertise in disaster risk-reduction management and humanitarian missions are valuable in helping government efforts to perfect disaster response, enhance the reservists’ capabilities and further intensify their engagements in humanitarian missions.

Salceda, the first governor to head the reservist group in Bicol, is a United Nations senior global champion on disaster risk-reduction and climate-change adaptation, who pioneered the Zero Casualty and Preemptive Evacuation strategies that are now widely adopted principles in disaster response.

He is also an incumbent director of the UN Green Climate Fund, which he chaired in 2013 and 2014.

Team Albay, the multiawarded disaster response group he organized, had been to many humanitarian missions in calamity-stricken areas around the country in the past eight years, conducting search and rescue and health and sanitation undertakings, among others.

Salceda said many things can be accomplished in and by the reserve force organization, “particularly on matters involving natural disasters and calamities due to climate change, so I urge my fellow reservists to work together in addressing these issues.”

He said he has accepted the challenges of heading the Armed Forces reservist group in Bicol, believing in the dictum that “an oath of duty connotes personal commitment to public service.”
Addressing his fellow Bicol reservists, he said: “I believe that when we are joined together, we can do a lot more.

Remember, cooperation and teamwork, coupled with dedication and commitment, are the key to our unit’s success.”

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/albays-salceda-installed-as-33rd-air-force-group-reserve-commander/