BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
ILOILO City – The Philippine Army’s 301st Brigade aims to clear 93 rebel-infested barangays in the provinces of Iloilo and Capiz.
“We have to focus our operations in the two provinces,” said Colonel Eric Uchida, new brigade commander.
Uchida replaced Brigadier General Arnold Quiapo, now the chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
There were 70 rebel-influenced barangays in Iloilo and 23 in Capiz, Uchida said.
He counts on the support of the community to successfully clear the barangays.
Majority of the rebel-influenced villages were in the hinterlands of central Panay, said Uchida.
He specifically mentioned the Iloilo towns of Calinog, Bingawan, Lambunao, Janiuay, and Leon that have several villages in the mountains.
Uchida said several barangays in Igbaras, Tubungan, Miag-ao, and San Joaquin also have insurgency problems.
In Capiz, Uchida named Jamindan and Tapaz as municipalities with rebel-influenced barangays in the hinterlands.
The Army has long ago declared Aklan province insurgency-free.
Antique, meanwhile, is considered “conflict-manageable.”
“Antique has been successfully managing peace and order at the local level. The number of rebels there had been reduced,” said Uchida./PN
