PILI, Camarines Sur --- As hostilities in Mindanao rage, more troops from the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Bicol were dispatched to serve as augmentation force for their fellow soldiers there.

       Army Major Gen. Jefffrey Sodusta, Commanding General of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division, told Bicol Mail that troops from 65th Infantry Battalion stationed in the island province of Catanduanes were pulled out and sent to Mindanao for an all-out battle against the rampaging Muslim rebels.

       “The augmentation troops from 65th IB stationed in Catanduanes were shipped out Tuesday (Aug. 19) to Ozamis City to assist their brother soldiers in flushing out the Moro rebels that have been attacking civilian communities in Mindanao,” Sodusta said.

       He said the troops would be headed by Army Lt. Col. Jed Motus, commanding officer of the Army’s 65th Infantry Battalion. Last Wednesday, a second batch of troopers was also set to leave for Mindanao.

       Sodusta assured that while some troops were now deployed in war-torn Mindanao, the Army’s counter-insurgency campaign in Bicol would continue without let up.

       He disclosed insurgency threat in Bicol is going down as more young recruits are joining the military force.” We will be recruiting more Bicolano soldiers including militiamen to reinforce our troops,” Sodusta said.

       He said currently 70 percent of soldiers assigned in the region are Bicolanos who could easily identify the rebels and run after them because they are familiar with the terrain.

       But Gregorio “Ka Greg” Bañares, regional spokesman of the Bicol Regional Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines contested Sodusta’s claim saying that the revolutionary movement is more than prepared to achieve even more victories this year and next year as the NPA enters its 41st year of fighting.

       Banares vowed to launch more offensive attacks against the government troops here.