Basic military training for village watchmen ongoing in Iloilo town

From the Philippine News Agency (May 7): Basic military training for village watchmen ongoing in Iloilo town

One of the first towns in landlocked Central Iloilo to receive the blowsof super typhoon Yolanda's power-packed winds reaching up to 300 kilometers per hour, Bingawan has certainly learned its lessons well, and its village watchmen have become the rallying cry by officials and citizens alike as they offer themselves freely in an ongoing, one-month basic citizen military training.

The specialized training under the watchful eyes of Philippine Army Reserved Command Lt.Col. Rolando Figueroa has the twin objectives of harnessing civilians in first-aid and search, rescue, and retrieval operations during a calamity.

Village peacekeepers (tanod) are on the front line of trainees, and Figueroa said the Army intends to reach two battalions of well-honed volunteers province-wide.

Bingawan, an inland town, is the first to receive such a specialized training program in Iloilo, chosenamong a cluster of hard-hit municipalities in Northern Panay owing to a hardly extant reserve forcewhich does not bode well in another deadly, storm strike.

Town Mayor Mat Palabrica, who came toobserve the drills that started over the weekend, was obviously pleased with what he saw, speaking with the participants at length for encouragement.

For his part, 3rd District Iloilo Rep. Arthur Defensor, Jr., who was also on hand, promised to extend a hand to the Army program to ensure its ultimate success.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=641136