A new commander has been tasked to lead the 302nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army in Bohol replacing Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Matanguihan, the brigade’s chief during state forces month-long operations against Abu Sayyaf stragglers in the province last year.
According to Captain Jojo Mascariñas, spokesman of the Army’s 302nd IBde, Matanguihan will officially be replaced by Col. Ignasio Madriaga in a brief ceremony at Camp Sikatuna in Carmen Bohol at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
Local officials including Governor Edgar Chatto and Board Member Ricky Masamayor, chair of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan’s committee on peace and order, are expected to witness the change of command which will be presided over by Maj. Gen. Dino Dolina, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division.
Mascariñas said that Madriaga was transferred from his immediate previous post with the Army’s 5th Infantry Division under the Northern Luzon Command.
Meanwhile, Matanguihan, who took over the 302nd IBde in February last year, was reassigned to a new post at the 9th Infantry Division in Bicol as its assistant commander.
During the Thursday ceremony, Matanguihan is also set to be honored for his achievements as commander of the 302nd IBde in Bohol.
The army general led the 302nd IBde as among the main forces that fought and hunted down 11 Abu Sayyaf bandits who infiltrated Bohol in mid-April last year.
State forces successfully neutralized the Abu Sayyaf threat by killing each of the stragglers a little over a month after their entry in Inabanga town. (RT, AD)