PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — The former commanding officer of a Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) battalion here has received one of the 10 Outstanding Filipinos awards from the Metrobank Foundation (MF).
Lieutenant Colonel Danilo Facundo, former commander of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 4 (MBLT 4), was chosen as one of the recipients of the MF’s career-service award for championing joint and inter-agency campaigns against terrorism and insurgency.
During his stint in Palawan, Facundo’s battalion leadership saw the employment of the inter-agency approach, which brought all government and non-government agencies in sharing the responsibility of resolving interdependent issues about radicalism and rebellion.
“Through joint and inter-agency approach, the outlook was to bring all agencies in Palawan with different interests and functions, but with commonalities, to identify and share one responsibility and get to the bottom of it,,” he said Thursday.
He added that violent extremism and insurgency can only be worked out in the province if all agencies – government and non-government– maximize their resources and common resolve against existing difficult issues and circumstances.
Part of the method, he explained, was establishing the concept of SMART, or Sustained Multi-agency Assistance in Resort and Tourist areas, to exchange valuable information against threats to communities.
“The approach foresees a crisis management scheme that facilitates inter-agency cooperation and minimizes competition and conflicts among all that want one end state, which is to keep Palawan safe,” Facundo said.
He said the inter-agency method, which is now being sustained by the third Marine Brigade (MBde) and the Western Command (Wescom), resulted “in zero incident of kidnapping and insurgency” in Palawan.
As part of his award, Facundo will be receiving PHP1 million from the Metrobank Foundation.
After leaving Palawan early this year as commander of the MBLT 4, Facundo was assigned as the director of the Mobile Training and Exercise Unit of the PMC in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.
He is one of only three members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) awarded this year.
The others are Philippine Army Major Francis Señoron, an explosives engineer; and Philippine Air Force warfighter Lt. Colonel Thomas Ryan Seguin.
The seven other awardees in different categories are Mary Jane Ramos of Misami Oriental, who is a culture and environment heroine; literacy crusader Alma Jaganap, EdD; first female geophysical expert Carla Dimalanta, PhD; science education innovator Aimee Marie Gragasin; Camp Crame’s operations game changer Senior Supt. Pascual Muñoz; horse-mounted cop Senior Insp. Dennis Ebsolo, PhD.; and enforcer-educator Senior Police Officer 1 Aida Awitin. (Celeste Anna Formoso/PNA)
