Newly deployed army battalion engages NPA in Igbaras
Less than three weeks after they were deployed, the 82nd Infantry (Bantay-Laya) Battalion had their baptism of fire yesterday after a platoon of the Charlie Company encountered around 20 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Brgy. Tigbanaba, Igbaras, Iloilo.
1st Lt. Mark Andrew Posadas, information office of the Third Infantry Division, Philippine Army based in Jamindan, Capiz, in a press release said the encounter happened around 10:30 a.m. yesterday after the soldiers attacked an NPA encampment in the said barangay.
Posadas said the firefight lasted ten minutes after which the NPA rebels withdrew eastward. There was no reported fatality or injury from both parties.
The 82IB has just finished their pre-deployment training in Camp Peralta. During their graduation 3ID Commanding General Major Gen. Vicente Porto tasked them “to help totally eradicate the (C)ommunist (T)errorist threat of Kilusang Rehiyon Panay, to secure their areas of responsibility so that socio-economic development can proceed unhampered, and to help maintain peace in order in Panay so that people can go about their ordinary business without fear.”
Maj. Gen. Porto also referred to the 82IB as the “Ambassadors of Stability.”
The 82IB was organized using the three Division Reconnaissance Companies and the Headquarters service Battalion of the Command. They are fully-equipped, fully-trained, fully-capable, and highly motivated to serve the needs of the people of Panay.
Lt. Col. George Joel Lalaquil, 82IB’s Battalion Commander, said “(w)e will be unrelenting in the pursuit of our mandates. This encounter is a message to our brother rebels that we mean business here in Southern Panay.”