Local executives want Army to bring emergency training to communities

November 13, 2026 | 6:21pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Local executives have assured support for the efforts of the Service Support Battalion (SSBn) of the 6th Infantry Division to keep the emergency response preparedness of soldiers and reservist units in Central Mindanao and want upcoming workshops related to it occasionally held in their turfs too,

Mayors in Maguindanao del Norte and in Cotabato City separately told reporters on Friday, November 13, that they want the calamity, disaster and accident response drills of soldiers and reservists, which the 6th ID’s SSBn facilitates on a periodic basis, held in ideal locations in both areas for community emergency responders to observe and learn something from it too.

The 6th ID’s SSBn held last week an on-field Forward Treatment Unit Exercise, involving 13 Army reservists from the 12th and 16th Regional Community Defense Groups, at Camp Siongco in Barangay Awang in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, as part of the division’s emergency response preparation program.

The headquarters of the 6th ID, which has units in six provinces and in five cities in Central Mindanao, is located in Camp Siongco.

Lt. Col. Nonie Ruizal, commanding officer of the 6th ID's SSBn, and an Army physician, Col. Alexander Zapanta, commanding officer of the medical personnel at the Camp Siongco Station Hospital, cooperated in facilitating last week’s Forward Treatment Unit Exercise of soldiers and Army reservists at Camp Siongco.

Major Gen. Edgar Catu, commander of 6th ID, and Lt. Col. Lito Maghuyop, director of the 1202nd Community Defense Center, supported the activity, according to participants.

“We are hoping that such drills can also be held in our province too,” said Maguindanao del Norte Vice Gov. Marshall Sinsuat.

Sinsuat’s hometown in Maguindanao del Sur, the seaside Datu Blah Sinsuat, has groups of volunteer civilian emergency responders helping the police and military carry out calamity and disaster response operations, including rescue of seafarers who figure in sea mishaps in its territorial seas.

“We in Cotabato City are wishing for the conduct of those exercises in our turf too,"  said Cotabato City Mayor Bruce Matabalao.

Cotabato City, which has 37 barangays, is the regional capital of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

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