AUSTRALIA is graduating another company of soldiers from the Philippine Army’s 2nd Infantry Division (ID), fulfilling an earlier agreement between Canberra and Manila for the former to train Filipino soldiers on urban-warfare operations.
Maj. Gen. Rhoderick Parayno, commander of the 2nd ID, said another company of soldiers from the 1st Infantry Battalion is set to graduate this weekend from the urban-warfare training being administered by at least 60 Australian soldiers.
The graduation of the 110 soldiers from the training is expected to bolster the capabilities of the members of the 2nd ID in dealing with terrorism in an urban setting like Marawi City, which was attacked and occupied by the Islamic State and the local terrorist Maute Group.
“I will tap them as trainers. I will conduct trainings, train my own forces in the division with them as trainers so that it will cascade to the different units of the 2nd ID,” said Parayno of the members of the First Infantry Brigade (IB).
The training of the members of the First IB in urban operations followed an earlier agreement between Canberra and Manila for the former to train Filipino soldiers on urban warfare. The agreement was prompted by the occupation of Marawi by terrorists.
The training was among the number of projects that Australia and the Philippines agreed to undertake in their joint efforts to battle and counter the threat of international terrorism.
“It’s a totally new doctrine that while we have in the Army what we called military operations on urban terrain, it was not given emphasis because the Army, especially the Scout Rangers and Special Forces, is always in the mountains,” Parayno said of the Australian-administered training being held in Nueva Ecija.
“Because of the Marawi incident, we realized that regular infantry units should be ready with this kind of incident,” he added.
The 2nd ID commander said the Marawi setting was the same reason he wanted to institutionalize urban operations within the whole division, with the graduates of the Australian course from the 1st IB as instructors.
The 1st IB was among the units that participated in the liberation of Marawi, but Parayno noted that when its members were sent to the city, they were first trained on urban warfare by the Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command, which had operational jurisdiction over the battle zone.