InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Army announced on Monday the appointment of new commanders for its elite forces.
The new commanding general of the Special Operations Command is Major General Romulo M. Bambao while appointed commander of the Special Forces Regiment (Airborne) is Colonel Donato B. San Juan.
Army spokesman Major Harold Cabunoc said Bambao was chosen by the Board of Senior Officers from a shortlist of qualified generals.
From the Army Special Warfare Brigade organized in 1978, the SOCOM continued to evolve and is now the mother unit of the Army’s elite Special Forces Regiment, First Scout Ranger Regiment, and Light Reaction Battalion.
“SOCOM was formed with the responsibility to plan, conduct, and support special operations of the Philippine Army,” said Cabunoc.
The Scout Rangers, known officially as the First Scout Ranger Regiment, specializes in anti-guerrilla warfare and is touted as one of the best units of its kind in the world.
The Special Forces Regiment (Airborne), like the Scout Rangers, is also trained in counterinsurgency operations. They are primarily trained in unconventional warfare operations and psychological warfare
operations.
The newest unit of the SOCOM, the Light Reaction Battalion (formerly the Light Reaction Company), was established in the year 2000.
It is the lead counterterrorist unit of the Philippine Army and was trained by American military advisers from the 1stBattalion, 1st Special Forces Group. The LRC was first deployed to Mindanao to combat the Abu Sayyaf.
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