SIMULTANEOUS NATIONWIDE MUSTERING OF RESERVIST
BAGUIO CITY – The Command through 14th RCDG and 1404th CDC conducted the first ever Simultaneous Mustering Nationwide of Philippine Army reservists on October 22, 2022 (Saturday) held at the Headquarters 14th (CAR) Regional Community Defense Group, Army Reserve Command, Philippine Army, Barangay Liwanag, Loakan, Baguio City.
Around 130 reservist participants attended from the following Community Defense Centers 1401 CDC – Barangay Liwanag-Loakan, Baguio City; 1402 CDC – Camp Juan Villamor, Bangued, Abra; 1403 – Poblacion Bontoc, Mountain Province; 1404CDC – So Bahawit, Poblacion West, Lagawe, Ifugao; 1405CDC – KSU Bulanao, Tabuk City, Kalinga and 1406CDC – Municipal Grounds San Carlos, Sta. Marcela, Apayao.
The objectives is in order to physically account for, inspect, organize, update the individual records and ascertain the whereabouts of PA reservists with the end-view of achieving our strategic goal to have mobilized, responsive and defendable reservists within the province of Ifugao.
The program started via VTC spearheaded by the RDCGs with the CDCs as the Lead Support Units (LSUs),
RESCOM-RESERVE COMMAND COMMANDER MGEN FERNANDO V. FELIPE expressed his message in a virtual meeting and gave an announcement to the new recruits to Instill Strengthen, Enhance, Improve and upgrade the Philippine Army Reservists.
The Reserve Officer Training Corps consists of 254 activated and 231 affiliated with a total of 485 ROTC Units and 448 schools offered ROTC Program in SY 2021 -2022.
“The 5 Key Priorities should always be in mind to be our vision at all times, the First priority, is we intend to instill the shared values of patriotism and nationalism, Second is to strengthen the organization through force mustering, Third is to conduct training to enhance the skill of personnel, Fourth is to improve RESCOM programs and the Fifth is to upgrade the systems.
RCDG/CDC Group Commander COL. ARNEL B. CABUGON (Top left photo) delivered his message and some important announcement was given to the CDCs.
“In line with the Command’s Five Key Priorities to strengthen the organization by conducting an inventory of all reservists and monitoring of qualified reserve force administrators and reservists, a simultaneous mustering to PA reservists nationwide through VTC. This is also in compliance with Section 49 of RA 7077 which states that “All reservists, particularly those belonging to the Ready and Standby Reserves, shall be accounted for, their records and status updated and present whereabouts ascertained in order to ensure their readiness to the call to duty”
Tracing the PA’s reserve manpower development build-up since the birth of ROTC as well as those other sources of the reserve force, records show that there are over a million reservists produced from various sources but as of this time, only a few are accounted for. Notably, accounting of reservists has been a perennial problem of this Command to realize the overall physical accounting of these reservists, a nationwide general mustering of PA reservists will be simultaneously conducted nationwide. This will further, determine the present status of the operational readiness and test the responsiveness of these reservists when mobilization is ordered.
The tasks of the Regional Community Defense Groups to conduct the simultaneous nationwide mustering within respective Areas of Operation, facilitate and provide necessary assistance to the CDC administrators in preparation, planning, and coordination for the activity, involved the participation of LGUs, LGAs, GOs, NGOs and POs for the information dissemination and invite local media to cover the events, coordinate with respective LGUs for the transportation requirements for the participants during the entire activity.
In an interview with RCDG CDC Director MAJ. JEOFREY CODIAMAT,
“This is the first time na nag conduct ng Simultaneously Nationwide Mustering na alam natin malaki talaga ang naitutulong ng mga reservists during calamities like earthquake at typhoon kasi nagagamit natin sila as manpower at nagka conduct sila ng repacking at sila ang pinakauna na tinatawag ng DSWD para mag repacking then mag distribute ng mga food packs at sila rin ang ginagamit natin kapag may bagyo at may mga landslide at para sa clearing operation,”
“Kaya patuloy tayo nagre recruit ng reservist dahil may mga retirement rin tulad ng mga may edad na at hindi na kaya gumanap sa serbisyo kaya para mapalitan naman ang mga magre retire na.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines through the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for reservist and retiree Affairs. J9 will spearhead the conduct of the Regional Commissionship Validation nationwide during the month of November. Likewise, Higher Headquarters directed this Command to participate in the said activity.
The Schedule of activities will be undertaken in the following venues are; The activity of ROTC Information Drive Monitoring and Evaluation will be held at Region 1 (NRCEN-NL, Bonuan Guesset, Dagupan City on November 4 -5, 2022 and also in CAR (14th RCDG, Athletic Bowl, Baguio City will be held on November 6 -7, 2022.
In this connection, the following are directed to perform to participate in the said activity face-to-face and/or means in coordination with U9, NOLCOM, and ensure the availability of ten (10) attendees (ROTC Commandants Training Staff and NSTP Coordinators) for the face-to-face meeting at designated venues for Regions 1 and 14 (CAR) during the said activity. Further, the attendance of newly commissioned. Reservist Officers that reside near the said venue are highly encouraged.
The 14RCDG to make necessary preparations as the 2nd venue in CAR in coordination with U9, NOLCOM.
Points of Contact: CAPT JOHN E. DE VILLA PN (GSC) Chief MDD, OJ9 with mobile no. 0917-826-4393 and LCDR JOSE Q. MATABANG PN, Assistant Chief, MDD, OJ9 with mobile no, 0995-587-2301.
“In behalf of our Group Commander no other than COL. ARNEL B. CABUGON, Infantry (GSC) PA and 14 CDC our Administrator of Baguio –Benguet, Reservists and ROTC, I encourage those freshman, students to take up the ROTC as the ROTC component that will become a reservist upon graduation the basic ROTC so that maraming maidadagdag na reservist na makakatulong duing the calamities dito sa Cordillera,” COL CODIAMAT concluded. # Photos by: Mario Oclaman //FNS
