Col. Oscar Lactao, newly-designated 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, yesterday said if he is given a choice – he would opt for peaceful negotiations, rather than fighting the New People’s Army in Negros.

Lactao, who has spent most of his 20 years in the military fighting the Muslim secessionists and the NPA in Mindanao, said the armed struggle is going nowhere.

“I guess we have enough bloodshed, let us sit down and talk” Lactao said, as he reiterated the call of his predecessors and Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Maranon Jr. to the NPA to abandon the armed struggle and help in the fight against poverty in Negros.

He, however, said that if the NPA wants war “ we will give it to them”.

Lactao described his assignment in Negros Occidental as a “challenge”, and he reiterated his commitment to “zero” human rights violations among soldiers of the 303rd Infantry Brigade.

On the other hand, the 11th Infantry Battalion recently launched the “Bayanihan para sa Kabataan-Securing the Youth” program in Vallehermoso, Negros Oriental, which provides supplemental classroom instructions aimed at securing the youth from the influence of lawless elements and destructive vices, its commander, Lt. Col. Ramil Bitong, 11th IB commander, said.*GPB

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