ZAMBOANGUITA, Negros Oriental, Sept. 1 (PIA) -- The municipality of Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental has awarded Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, 62nd Commanding General of the Philippine Army (CGPA) for bringing honor and prestige to his hometown through his exemplary achievement and service to the country.
Mayor Glenson Alanano of Zambonguita led the awarding rites for Sobejana along with members of the Sangguniang Bayan at the town plaza.
Sobejana, considered as one of the country’s living heroes known for his heroic combat exploits, is a recipient of the country’s highest military award, the Medal for Valor, an award equivalent to the Congressional Medal of Honor of the United States of America.
“He is a lumad from Zamboanguita. Lt. Gen. Sobejana was instrumental in establishing an army detachment here and deployed some troops supported by the LGU through food assistance," said Alanano.
Sobejana, in his acceptance speech, said: “I really felt both honored and humbled with the recognition and elated to bring this honor to my fellow Negrenses in general and my fellow Zamboaguitanons in particular. I dream for my beloved town and country for peace and progress. We should unite as one to achieve sustainable peace and work to provide economic program to our people."
Having been in the military service for almost three decades, Sobejana added that he campe up with a "fitting definition of that having a sustainable, long and lasting state of peace and progress, we should work as one because united we stand, we should not be divided otherwise we fail. For me, peace means people empowerment in addressing challenging environment. If the people know their roles, they will effectively provide the needed support to achieve peace, and progress, we need to provide a very good economic program to our people. We need to have a credible government.”
He emphasized that security is a shared responsibility and that everyone should take part to achieve peace and development in the locality.
“The ultimate solution for our insurgency problem is not guns and ammunitions but it is our operations other than war,” he added.
With this, Sobejana cited that by providing a comprehensive program allowing every citizen of the country to earn for a living, it is not within the capacity of the Armed Forces to address economic dimensions of war, "it would be our partners of the civil government, the LGUs, the local chief executives, business sector and other members of the society."
“My work as a Commanding General is to make sure that all the Army units are capacitated, meaning they are very much capable of accomplishing the multifarious missions given to them,” said Sobejana. (jct/PIA7 Negros Oriental)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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