An injured soldier and his battalion commander of the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army based in Siaton, Negros Oriental, yesterday vowed to continue fighting for peace and development in the countryside despite threats to their lives.

Lt. Col. Pio Diñoso III, 79th IB commander, and Private First Class Roilo Anadia issued their statements during an awarding ceremony of the Wounded Personnel Medal to the soldier at the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital in Dumaguete.

Anadia is still under treatment at the hospital after he sustained a gunshot wound to his leg  February 22, in the sub-barangay of Katubahan in Tayak, Siaton town, about an hour’s drive south of Dumaguete City, while he and his fellow soldiers were on a peace and development mission under Oplan Bayanihan.

Anadia also received cash assistance from the battalion and  crutches personally donated by his commander, as he thanked him and the army for subsidizing his hospital and medical bills.

Unfazed by the attack allegedly perpetrated by members of the Komiteng Rehiyon Sentral Bisayas of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army, Anadia said he understands the risks that come with the job, and will not give up fighting for peace.

Diñoso, on the other hand, reiterated that the government’s non-combat approach to the insurgency problem, where soldiers are deployed as peace and development workers in the hinterland barangays, will continue unabated and his men will not be sidetracked by harassments staged by the NPA.

Anadia was with other soldiers deployed to Katubahan to fix a basketball court and work on other facilities there, to include a dilapidated school building, when about 10 armed men fired at them from a hilltop about 300 meters away.

The 79th IB has identified the barangays of Tayak in Siaton and Mayabon and Calango in Zamboanguita, as the pilot areas in central and southern Negros Oriental for the peace and development mission, but five other barangays in Valencia, Sibulan and Pamplona towns are also scheduled for the same program, Diñoso said.*JFP

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