CAMP AQUINO, Tarlac City—The newly installed Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) chief, Lt. Gen. Anthony Alcantara, on Monday vowed to intensify the implementation of counter-insurgency Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) Bayanihan to diminish the influence of the New People’s Army (NPA) in his area of responsibility.
“The men and women of this command have done great strides in our internal security plan and arrest the growth of insurgents in Luzon. That I only intend to sustain and pursue vigorously,” he said.
Alcantara, a member of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1979, vacated the position of deputy chief of staff, Armed Forces, after President Aquino appointed him to lead Nolcom.
The command was formerly held by the Armed Forces chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Jessie Dellosa. It covers the Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), where majority of the traditional strongholds of the NPA are located.
The Nolcom officer in charge, Maj. Gen. Ricardo Banayat, commander of the 1st Air Division, turned over the command flag and saber to Alcantara during a ceremony presided by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.
“We affirm our commitment to earnestly support all peace efforts of the national leadership as well as that of all developmental works by our local leaders, our other partners, even those in the private sectors and nongovernment organizations,” Alcantara said.
He stressed that one of the most important missions of the command under his watch is to strengthen coordination with the local police commands, local governments and civic organizations to support the national government’s peace process with the communist insurgents.
“So let’s support each other and buckle down to work. I believe in team work. Let’s work hand in hand for peace to prevail in Northern Luzon in particular and the country in general,” Alcantara said.
After the infamous Ampatuan Massacre in November 2009, the military high command sent Alcantara to lead the Army’s 6th Infantry “Kampilan” Division.
He led the massive hunt against the some 200 men involved in the massacre of 57 people, 32 of them mediamen, led by former Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. who is already in detention together with his father, Andal Sr., and brother Zaldy, former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Several cache of war materials containing rifles, machine guns, armored vehicles and even rockets launchers owned by the Ampatuan clan were recovered in several locations while martial law was in effect in Maguindanao.
Born in Bulacan but raised by his parents in Manila, Alcantara will reach his mandatory retirement age of 56 in 2014.
Dellosa: No mercy to erring personnel
DELLOSA, meanwhile, reiterated the warning to military personnel who continue to violate human rights that they will face the consequences of their action as part of his leadership’s serious efforts in organizational reforms.
“Aside from being true in respecting human rights and the International Humanitarian Law, we have also commendably executed justice by showing no mercy to erring personnel. This is to stop some few rotten personnel from spoiling and degrading the majority or most men in uniform who are doing right,” Dellosa said during the turnover of command ceremony.
Despite relentless efforts to destroy the image of the Armed Forces, Dellosa assured the military remains strong and united.
“This is also to prevent the relentless and exaggerated focus on corruption and human-rights violation in the Armed Forces. This constant heckling and scoffing at the military is undermining the esprit de corps, morale, corporate credibility and effectiveness of this institution,” he said.
“It ignores and mocks the fruitful efforts at reform that the Armed Forces has been carrying out for many years now. It further ignores the efforts and successes of the military in reform toward combating corruption and inculcating respect for human rights that have been undertaken or achieved already,” added.
“Despite all these efforts, it is a fact that threat groups will always do something to prove us wrong, but guided by the IPSP Bayanihan, that requires us to exercise maximum tolerance. If doing so will help us achieve our common goal, then so be it. It must be done. Ang mahalaga, ginagawa natin kung ano ang dapat at kung ano ang mandato sa atin ng ating Konstitusyon.”
In 2010 Human Rights Watch-Asia submitted to the Armed Forces Human Rights Office (HRO) 59 cases of alleged human-rights violations committed by military personnel.
But the HRO chief, Col. Domingo Tutaan Jr., debunked the allegations because the HRW-Asia refused to cooperate by submitting evidences for further investigation.
(With R. Acosta)
