Military deploys more troops in Metro, more being planned for three other cities

By Ronron
July 31, 2007

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) sent off Tuesday afternoon more of its civil-military operatives to Metro Manila as part of its Community Development (CODE) program.

Col. Ricardo Visaya, commander of the Civil Military Operations (CMO) Battalion of the Philippine Army, said 15 teams of 10 to 12 operatives each were deployed to Manila City following requests of barangay leaders in the area.

The deployment of said troops follows the deployment a few weeks ago of three teams to Taguig City and six teams to Quezon City. About to be deployed by the second week of August are three teams also for Caloocan City.

“They will just return to the areas where we deployed our troops before,” Visaya said.

Visaya said the military troops will initially stay for three to four months in their respective areas of assignment. But they can be extended based on the assessment of the condition of their areas of assessment.

Visaya noted that criminal incidents in the places of deployment have risen after the pull out of previous troops last May.

Asked if there was also recruitment by Leftists in those areas during their absence, Visaya said: “Yes. And the recruitment is rampant and they are even fastracking now because they want to go with their tactical offensives… This is what we are trying to prevent.”

Visaya it is for this reason that the chief executive of Malabon City sought also for deployment of soldiers in his area of responsibility.

Similar plans are also being planned in Marikina City and Navotas City, he added.

He said the plan is to prepare four to five teams for each of the new three cities, and to concretize it by this month (August).

From November last year until before the May 14 polls, some 260 soldiers were immersed in different barangays in the cities of Manila, Taguig, Quezon and Caloocan, which, militant groups criticized as too risky for an urban area and a means for government to convince people not to vote party-list groups perceived to be aligning with the communist movement.

But the military establishment maintained it is just in line with their mandate in the Constitution, which is to protect the people and the State./DMS