DUMAGUETE City – Brigadier Gen. Cesar Yano, outgoing commander of the 302nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army based in Tanjay, Negros Oriental, extended his gratitude to the officials and constituents of the province for their help in fighting the insurgency.

Yano will be replaced by his deputy commander, Col. Manuel Ochotorena, in a command turnover ceremony this morning at the brigade headquarters in Camp Leon Kilat, Tanjay City.

Yano said the achievements of the brigade, the mother unit of the 79th Infantry Battalion and the 61st Infantry Battalion deployed in southern Negros Island, are not his alone but of his men, local officials, and especially the barangay councils who have been instrumental in the anti-insurgency campaign at the grassroots level.

He emphasized that solving the insurgency problem cannot be achieved simply by fighting the rebels in the hinterlands but to address other underlying problems, such as poverty and the lack of basic services for the people, which have more lasting effects.

He expressed optimism that his successor, Ochotorena, is competent to take over the job, considering that he has served as deputy brigade commander for over a year in the province.

Yano, meanwhile, said his experience in Negros Oriental would be a big boost to his new assignment at the National Capital Region that would include policy-making.

He has been designated as chief of the Office for Legislative Affairs of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The office acts as conduit between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Congress, Yano said.(PNA)