NEWLY DEPLOYED ARMY TROOPS
TO ENSURE PEACEFUL ELECTIONS IN MASBATE

MASBATE CITY – The Philippine Army has activated a new battalion to provide security during the automated elections and run after communist rebels in the island-province of Masbate.

Military sources said the 85th Infantry Battalion headed by Col. Lope Dagoy, is composed of 250 officer and men, all but 60 whom served with the United Nations’ peacekeeping teams in Haiti and Liberia.

The new battallion will beef up the present military forces in Masbate, the 9th Infantry Battallion headed by Col. Anthony Puruganan.

In a television interview, Dagoy said his battalion “will be able to run after partisan armed groups in Masbate in line with the Armed Forces of the Philippine s’ goal of ensurig honest, orderly and peaceful elections.

Puruganan said the new battalion will be assigned to Masbate “as part of the military’s duty to assist the Commission on Elections, applying the principles of peacekeeping they learned from their previous assignment.”

Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales presided over the deployment of the battalion in ceremonies at the Masbate City Port Friday (April 16). A navy ship took the battalion from Sangley Point in Cavite. (EADelgado, PIA Masbate/MALCID)