AFP PR
CAMP AQUINO, Tarlac City — A day after mobilising the reserve force, the AFP’s Northern Luzon Command ordered on Thursday the deployment of military engineers to help the people of Region 2.
Major General Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr, Commander of NOLCOM, said that the move is in accordance with PRRD’s directive to utilise all available assets to hasten the recovery efforts in Cagayan Valley.
Per the military’s records, there are three engineer construction battalions that are strategically deployed across Northern and Central Luzon.
Maj Gen Burgos said that “such is a calculated and proactive move in preparation for the next logical step in post-disaster operations” something which, according to him “they have learned in the AFP’s long history of being first responders in times of calamities.”
He reiterated his soldiers’ “commitment to provide assistance and help our constituents go through this challenge by sending our forces and equipment in the area to hasten the relief efforts as well as the eventual rehabilitation operations.”
Similar to the regular and reserve forces, these additional manpower and equipment will be under Joint Task Force Tala, NOLCOM’s operating arm in Region 2, which is working in close coordination with the Emergency Operations Center of Cagayan Valley’s Office of Civil Defense as well as the Governors of Cagayan and Isabela through their Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
Maj Gen Burgos highlighted that “this crisis showed our nation and the international community that the AFP’s state of the art equipment acquired through the modernization program are not only tools for war but, more importantly, they are tools to save Filipino lives and tools that give hope amidst the uncertainties of calamities.”
He ended his statement by assuring the public that “your military will stay true and faithful to our most solemn oath of putting primacy to the welfare and safety of our people at all times in the face of adversities.”
