TACLOBAN CITY– The 803rd Infantry Brigade which operates in Northern Samar has a new brigade officer.
B/Gen. Efren Morados was installed on Monday (Feb.13) as the new brigade commander of the 803rd IB whose headquarter is in Catarman town.
He replaced B/Gen. Perfecto Peñaredondo who named as the new assistant division commander of the 8th Infantry Division which is based in Catbalogan City, Samar.
Morados served as the deputy commander of Peñaredondo who was the commanding officer of the 803rd IB from July 30, 2021 to February 13 of this year.
He belonged to the ‘Tanglaw-Diwa’ Class of 1992 of the Philippine Military Academy. Peñaredondo is a member of the ‘Sambisig’ Class of 1991 of the PMA.
Col. Erwin Rommel Lamzon, assistant division commander for reservist and retirees affairs, presided the turnover rites.
Lamzon, meantime, lauded the soldiers of the 803rd IB not only on their campaign against insurgency but even during disaster situations in the province which was hit by flooding in the past month.
A soldier was killed during in one of the rescue operations conducted by the government troopers to families stranded due to flooding.
In Eastern Visayas, it is Northern Samar where the communist rebel group, the New People’s Army, largely operates.
Four of the five remaining guerilla fronts are based in the province.
Army officials in the region, led by Major Gen. Camilo Ligayo, is determined to crush the insurgency problem in the region, giving a timetable of within the year.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
