The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday said it has activated the AFP Special Operations Command (AFP-SOCom), bringing control of special operations units from all major services under one Command with its headquarters in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija.
The former SOCom under the Army was deactivated and its officers together with other personnel from the special operations units from other major services will compose the core of the AFP-SOCom.
It will take command and supervision of the Special Operations Wing of the Air Force, the Naval Special Operations Group from the Navy; Scout Ranger Regiment, Special Forces Regiment and Light Reaction Regiment of the Army; and the Joint Special Operations Group of the General Headquarters.
AFP chief of staff Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero said “the activation of AFP-SOCom was the result of lessons learned during the Zamboanga City attack in 2013 and Marawi siege in 2017.”
“I have personally seen the need for a joint SOCom, having been a brigade, division, and area commander. In the Eastern Mindanao Command, I saw the need for a single unit that would oversee the proper employment of the different major service special operations forces deployed in the area,” Guerrero said in an activation ceremony held in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
Meantime in General Santos City, authorities foiled a possible terror attack here after security forces seized an improvised explosive device from the hideout of a suspected member of local terror group Ansar Khilafah Philippines in an outskirt village here over the weekend.
Senior Supt. Raul Supiter, city police director, said police and military operatives swooped down on the rented house of Mushala Rasim, a suspected AKP member, in Dona Soledad Subdivision in Barangay Labangal, this city and seized an improvised explosive device and other bomb-making paraphernalia.
He said the suspect was able to escape before the arrival of security forces in the area.
Police said Rasim was linked to suspected Indonesian terrorist Omar Abu who was earlier arrested by military operatives in Palimbang Sultan Kudarat last month.
The AKP is a local terror group which is linked to ISIS whose leader, Mohamad Jaafar Maguid was killed in an encounter with security forces in Kiamba, Sarangani in January 2016.
Police said Rasim was out on a mission to carry out terror attacks in the city and nearby areas. (Francis T. Wakefield & Joseph Jubelag)