President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday praised the Philippine Army’s 1st Infantry Division (1ID) and the joint task force fighting terrorist organizations in the south, saying they never failed the country.
“Dahil maganda ang performance ninyo, lagi namin i-expect sa inyo na laging maganda rin ang performance ninyo. Pero you have never failed the country,” President Marcos said during his Talk to Troops at Kuta Major Cesar Sang-an in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur.
“You have never failed to answer the call of duty with honor, with pride, and with the passion and the love for the Republic of the Philippines.”
The President recalled that when he was still a boy, he used to accompany his father during camp tours, who made frequent visits to the 1st ID, or the Army’s Tabak Division.
He said he has to bring up the history of the 1st Division and the Joint Task Force because “you must be very proud of the actions that have been undertaken by your units in the fight for peace in the Zamboanga Peninsula.”
Congratulating the soldiers for their good work, Marcos said they are now tasked to transform themselves from war fighters to peacemakers as the country pursues the peace process.
“Papunta na tayo sa dulo ng peace process and that’s why we are very optimistic about all of the development and the progress that we will be seeing in the area,” he pointed out.
“Iyan ang ating hangarin para sa ating mga kababayan, Kristiyano man, Muslim man, kung saan man sila galing dapat lahat ay magkasama, hindi na magkalaban, hindi na magkagulo-gulo.”
During the camp visit, the commander of the 1st ID conducted a situation briefing with the President at the Tabak Gymnasium. Around 200 attendees, composed of officials and troops from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and 1st ID, were present.
Joint Task Force Zamboanga Peninsula and Lanao (JTF ZamPeLan) is composed of the 1ID, Naval Task Group-ZamPeLan, and Tactical Operations Group 9, covering the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Misamis Occidental, and some parts of Misamis Oriental.
JTF ZamPeLan confronts two different threat groups: the Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) and Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group (DI-MG).
Aside from communist rebels and other terrorist groups, the task force also monitors the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) with a combined combat force of around 5,000 personnel.
Among the task force’s significant accomplishments as of July this year include the
dismantling of six out of seven CTG guerilla fronts in its area of responsibility; recovery of 48 enemy firearms and neutralization of four high-value individuals during March 2022 encounter against the DI-MG.
It also neutralized the top leadership of DI-MG, Abu Zacharia, the Amir of DI-Philippines and overall Amir of the Islamic State-East Asia last June 14.
With only one out of seven CTG guerilla fronts remaining, the AFP has achieved a strategic victory in the area and it now focuses on fully eliminating CTG influence to sustain Zamboanga
Peninsula’s insurgency-free declaration and help support the tourism and investment promotion efforts.
Other concerns include addressing the proliferation of loose firearms; containing private armed groups in preparation for the upcoming 2023 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections; and supporting the normalization process, particularly the decommissioning of MILF combatants and the MNLF’s transformation program activities. PND
