By Jennifer P. Rendon
Under the leadership of Major General Benedict Arevalo, the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry (Spearhead) Division would be guided by the mantra, “loved by the people, feared by the enemy.”
A true-blooded Spearhead trooper, Arevalo officially took the highest post of the 3rd ID, the unit where he first started his military career after graduating from the Philippine Military Academy in 1990, on September 21, 2021.
“Mahal ng taumbayan, kinakatakutan ng kalaban. This should be our personal philosophy. It is important for us to understand that we should be loved by the people first and foremost,” he said.
Arevalo urged 3rd ID soldiers to continue winning the hearts and minds of the people through civil-military activities.
These include their duties and tasking during disasters, their COVID efforts, stakeholders’ engagements, civil affairs activities, and engineering projects that will help alleviate the condition of the people in Western and Central Visayas.
“And of course, being feared by the enemy means that we will be relentless and would do aggressive offensives in our operations. When we say offensive because no battle or war is fought in defense, it is only won in offense,” he said.
Arevalo said this has been his attitude since he became brigade commander – at 301st Infantry Brigade based in Camp Hernandez in Dingle, Iloilo in 2018 and at the 303rd IB in Murcia, Negros Occidental in 2019.
“We don’t expect our enemies to love us. So they would say negative things, bash us because that is the reality,” he said.
This, he claimed, should be no reason for them to be cowered or downhearted by the comments of their enemies and their friends and supporters.
“We will continue to negate the lies and deceptions that our enemy is trying to propagate in our provinces, especially in the hinterlands and the far-flung barangays,” he said.
Arevalo said that sustain the momentum of our operational accomplishments
“The operational accomplishments posted is a nationwide trend. The 3rd Division cannot lag behind with other divisions that have been delivering victories in the battlefield in order to crush the (rebel) CPP-NPA So this would be my focus also in addressing the armed components of our enemy,” he said.
He pointed out, though, that they couldn’t attain victory in the campaign without stakeholders “because we cannot win alone.”
“We cannot win as an Armed Forces or the police. We need the support of everybody in the community. That’s why we have the whole of government and whole of nation approach. It is really the key that we are able to harness the strengths and the capabilities of the whole government and afterwards, we will enforce it with the capability and strength of the whole of nation,” he said.
Arevalo said that everybody should understand that they are not the only ones who can solve insurgency.
They could be one of the biggest parts but they might not be the only part of that solution.
Thus, the need to continue engaging the stakeholders- the local government units, the national government agencies, civil society organizations, academe, and different sectors of the society.
“It could help in sustaining momentum in terms of operational accomplishments. With that, I also encourage our stakeholders to be with us in this fight against CPP NPA,” he said.
Currently, he said that the 3rd ID is facing two threats – the CPP NPA and the COVID.
“We should be able to face both squarely. We should be able to win the CPP-NPA and our fight against COVID,” Arevalo said, as he noted that 3rd ID has no active Covid case.
‘SOLDIERS COME FIRST’
With him at the helm, Arevalo also said that soldiers should also come first.
In his speech, he narrated how he started his career at the 3rd ID when the roads leading to camp are still muddy and rugged.
Decades later, the ones rough roads are already paved.
“I’m saying this for our troops to know that I, as a Division Commander, went through the ladder of my career and I’ve been in the field. That’s why, when I order something for our troops to be done, I’m sure I did it before. I will not order anything that I have not done before,” he said.
Arevalo also assured that he is not someone who just wants to command or give orders.
“I know how it feels in the ground. I know how it feels to fight. I know how it feels to have casualties and I know how it feels to be victorious in our combat operations and engagements,” he said.
That experiences, he said, are what he brings as division commander.
“You will be assured that my heart belongs to the men down there in the frontlines. And with that as your division commander, I’m not here just to give orders or command, I am here to serve you for you to be able to perform your job well,” he said.
The 3rd ID headquarters will embrace the philosophy “to serve and not to be served.
“We will try to adopt a customer-friendly culture here in the Division and determining and understanding that our customers are only the civilians and the people but firstly and primarily, that our customers are our soldiers. Being that as customers, we will treat them well. We will treat every private, CAFGU with pride and dignity,” he said.
But when it comes to training, it’s a different thing, Arevalo added.
He also assured that they bring down the support down, up, front, forward, to their troops. These may be personnel, logistics, especially firepower, ammunition, financial and fund support.
“I guarantee you that the support given by the Philippine Army will reach our lowest units. That would be the principle that we will be adopting here at the division headquarters. And for that matter, headquarters units should also have that mentality,” he said.
After all, the headquarters should exist not only to command and give orders but also to facilitate and to empower its subordinates and the people on the ground.
