5,000 soldiers to be recruited

AROUND 5,000 soldiers will be recruited next year to increase the manpower resources of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to effectively flush out security threats in the country including terrorism and insurgency.

Chief of Staff of the AFP General Eduardo Año said President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the recruitment of additional soldiers for the year 2018 and the eight thousand recruits for this year is set to finish by November.

These new soldiers will man the new 10 battalions that will be activated by the AFP in different areas in Eastern Mindanao where there are high presence of rebels.

The AFP has currently has an estimated 135,000 soldiers, with

about 80,000 of them are in the Philippine Army.

Año explained that the increase in the number of their forces was part of their improvement effort towards becoming world-class armed forces.

Aside from that, among the countries in Southeast Asia, Philippines has low number of soldiers which is not enough to cover the more than 110 million population with over seven thousand islands.

“In Southeast Asia, tayo ang may pinakamaraming challenges at threats. Yong ibang country like Indonesia, Malaysia, Sinapore, Vietnam, walang ganitong threats pero ang kanilang Armed Forces ay doble-doble sa Armed Forces natin ngayon,” he said.

Also, they targeted to wipe out the presence of New People’s Army (NPA) across the country by 2018 to stop their atrocities and give way for more economic development for NPAinfested areas. He cited that after the crisis in Marawi City, they will shift focus on the reds.

“By January, additional 5,000 troops na naman ang ating irerecruit sapagkat ang gusto nating mangyari, sa katapusan ng 2018, wala ng CPPNPA kahit isa sa buong Pilipinas,” Año said.

Once realized, he said that the country could be at par probably even better and more developed than countries in Southeast Asia if peace and stability are attained which are factors to attract development are. This will also help in the improvement in the lives of the Indigenous People (IP).

“By 2022, at the end of the term of the President, Philippines will be very much different, free from any threat with massive economic development,” he said,

He also said they will begin returning battalions to their respective areas after the clearing of Marawi City. In Eastern Mindanao, there were about five battalions who were sent to Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) to help combat terrorism. JCR