Duterte orders augmentation of troops in Jolo

President Rodrigo Duterte chats with Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) Commander Lieutenant General Benjamin Madrigal Jr. before boarding a plane bound for Singapore at the Tactical Operations Group (TOG)-11 in Davao City on November 12, 2018. (File photo / SIMEON CELI / Malacanang)

President Rodrigo Duterte has announced that he recently ordered the deployment of an entire military division to Jolo, Sulu to help secure peace and order in the province and nearby places.

“We visited a wake at Cauayan. I was with Secretary (Delfin) Lorenzana and Secretary (Eduardo) Año. I talked to them and complained about why so many of my soldiers in Jolo are dying,” Duterte said on Tuesday night during his visit to Camp Rajah Sikatuna, Carmen, Bohol.

“By December 1, I told Secretary Lorenzana, ‘I want one division there’ so I will provide you with a Glock and three magazines,” he added.

In a later interview with the media after the inauguration of the new Bohol-Panglao International Airport, Duterte explained that the recent attack of the Abu Sayyaf group prompted his order to deploy more troops in Jolo.

“In Jolo, I also expressed my dismay about the losses that’s why I went to Cauayan to visit the five soldiers who were killed in Sulu and I went to Zamboanga last night to commiserate with the troops there. Twenty-five wounded soldiers and I gave them medals,” Duterte said.

“There will be a division-size [deployment there], talagang isang divsion ilagay ko not only a company, not only a battallion, not only a regiment, but I’m going to place there an entire division,” he said. /jpv

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