AT LEAST 40 members of the US Pacific Air Force (USPacAF) under the US Pacific Command (USPaCom) headed by Lt. Col. Alvin Alana joined the Philippine Army’s 302nd (Achiever) Brigade for a joint operation scheduled to begin Sunday.
The USPaCom troops arrived in Negros Oriental on Saturday via separate local flights from Metro Manila and through the Philippine Air Force’s C130, the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Public Affairs Office (AFP-PAO) said.
The AFP-PAO said the American troops, soldiers of the 302nd Brigade, and the Philippine National Police (PNP) will conduct a nine-day joint and combined Humanitarian Civic Assistance/Civil-Military Operations (HCA/CMO) beginning on Sunday up to March 11.
“This joint activity dubbed as the Pacific Angels 13-1 is an annual humanitarian assistance program sponsored by the USPACOM and implemented by the USPacAF in partnership with the AFP. The objective of this exercise is to enhance the response capability of the AFP and stakeholders during disasters and calamities.”
The AFP said the soldiers will provide medical, dental, and optometry services, undertake school repair and other engineering programs, and “hold lectures on various subject matter expert changes between the AFP-PNP and USPACOM forces.”
These lectures “aim to enhance interoperability and preparedness among different forces during calamities and disasters.”
Last year, a magnitude 6.9-earthquake hit Negros Oriental that led to 51 casualties, 112 injured and 62 missing, according to a report by the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRMMC).
“The total number of population affected in 180 barangays, nine municipalities, two cities, and two provinces in Region 7 [was pegged] at 63,899 families [and/or] 320,165 persons,” the NDRRMC report said.
Col. Francisco Patrimonio, 302nd Infantry Brigade Commander, said the unit will support this humanitarian mission primarily in providing security to the contingents, facilitate the transportation of people affected by the previous earthquake to and from their location and assist in the construction and repair of selected school beneficiaries here in the region.
Aside from the USPACOM, the AFP and PNP, Pacific Angels 13-1 will be participated by the provincial government of Negros Oriental and non-governmental organizations led by the Oriental Negros Children’s Advocacy Network.
MGen Jose Z. Mabanta Jr., Commander of 3ID, said Negros has suffered from previous calamities and disasters.
“Our ability to mitigate, prepare, respond and recover from the effects brought about by these calamities is necessary to be enhanced. This is an opportunity for all stakeholders to learn and enhance our interoperability during disasters and calamities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Col. Oscar Lactao, commander of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade, in Negros Occidental, said that a brother of one of the victims of an ambush by the New People’s Army late January committed suicide.
Lactao said 39-year-old Eddie Mateo committed suicide on February 20 apparently due to deep depression after his brother Jonathan was among those killed in the ambush in La Castellana on January 27.
The ambush, according to Lactao, led to the death of a policeman and eight civilians and the serious wounding of 12 others.
Lactao said Mateo’s suicide stemmed from the long-term effects of violent incidents.
“Violence caused by the armed struggle, particularly in La Castellana, has a long effect not only to the direct victims but also to their families. There is no problem with activism or fighting for a just cause as long as it does not use violence as a means for attaining it,” Lactao said.
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