By Ronron
March 8, 2007
A top Defense official maintained on Thursday that there is nothing wrong with soldiers deployed in Metro Manila for civil military operations wearing their battle dress attire (BDA) and bringing their firearms.
This as the deployed troops changed their uniforms two days ago from BDA to General Office Attire (GOA), and were no longer allowed to bring long firearms when on duty in the urban poor and Moslem communities in the capital.
“That is our uniform… When they do their work, they have to be identifiable. And of course, we want our people to appreciate their soldiers… They should look more presentable,” Carolina explained the necessity of wearing the military uniforms.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) National Capital Region Command (NCRCom) chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino explained that they “voluntarily” changed the uniforms of their soldiers so they will not be “mean-looking.”
As for the firearms, Carolina said it is also important for security purposes. “Not all are armed,” he said.
Dolorfino said the change of the type of firearms to be brought by the soldiers to handguns was done in response to criticisms by various sectors.
“We don’t see any reason to pull them out. I think our soldiers are doing good there and their training is effective,” said Carolina.
The Civil Military Operations (CMO) battalion under the NCRCom has deployed 26 teams of nine to 10 members each to slum and Moslem areas in Caloocan City, Quezon City, Taguig City and Manila City since November of last year to hold dialogues with residents and do community service.
But Gabriela and Akbayan party-list groups complained that the soldiers are being used by government to campaign against them for the upcoming elections.
The military denied this, saying they are out there to just help the peace and order problem in the communities and as part of training of probationary second lieutenants for peacekeeping missions./DMS
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