Army sends Ecija battalion to Mindanao

This photo taken on April 4, 2017 shows Philippine soldiers marching during the army’s 120th anniversary ceremony at Fort Bonifacio camp in Manila.
/ AFP FILE PHOTO / TED ALJIBE

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO-The Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Division (ID) is set to deploy its 56th Infantry Battalion (IB) to Mindanao on Feb. 4 to augment troops tasked to seek out terror groups.

Major General Felimon Santos Jr., 7th ID commander, on Thursday confirmed the send-off schedule from its base in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija province.

According to the 7th ID, the 56th IB recovered 10 camps of the New People’s Army in Aurora and Nueva. It was reportedly active in assisting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources stop illegal logging in the Sierra Madre mountain ranges. Its previous base of operations was in Bulacan province.

Also on Feb. 4, Santos is welcoming back the 69th IB, which had been assigned in Jolo, Sulu for 18 months following seven years of stints in several Mindanao areas.

The 69th IB “played an important role in a joint security operation, monitoring terror plans and actions that limited and hampered the [Abu Sayyaf Group’s] maneuver space within their [area of responsibility] and cut the group’s support from the local populace,” the 7th ID said. The 69th IB used to operate in Pampanga.