Army’s outgoing Commanding Gen. Ortiz inaugurates projects at Fort Magsaysay

Fort Magsaysay, Philippines—Two days before he steps down as Commanding General of the Philippine Army, Lieutenant General Arturo Ortiz visited Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija to inaugurate some of his projects that have transformed the camp as a “show window” for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Fort Magsaysay is reported to be the largest military camp in the country at 44,000 hectares.  It houses the 7^th Infantry Division and the Special Operations Command (SOCOM), the home of Special Forces units of the Army.

On one of his final farewell visits, Ortiz inaugurated 7^th Infantry Division’s newly-renovated facilities:  Office of the Intelligence, which cost P4.4 million; Annex building at P3 million, Division Training Unit at P21 million, Chaplain at P800,000, and five of 11 officers’ quarters at P700,000 each and the dental detachment at P2 million and a bowling alley.

Cost for the bowling alley was not available.

Ortiz estimated a P90-million worth of renovations for the facelift of Fort Magsaysay, including SOCOM, where he served as commander before taking over as Army chief in July 2010.

He said in the past, Fort Magsaysay was dubbed as Fort Magsisi (magsisi is a Filipino word for regret), as the living conditions in the camp would make one “regret” of his stay there.

Ortiz noted the heat, unpaved roads, lack of water, as some of the factors that have given the camp a “miserable impression” among soldiers.

He said the camp, which also serves as one of the hosts of several bilateral exercises, would no longer be an embarrassment and could actually be a “show window” for the military.

He said they actually “have enough funds for repair.”

Ortiz said that while waiting for the requested funds, they used up savings in advance to get ahead with the projects, which he called “build-inaugurate-refund” form of financing in his own terms.

As one of the key training areas of the Philippine Army, a big number of soldiers will be assigned or will have to take basic and advanced courses at Fort Magsaysay at some point in their careers, he said.