Zamboanga del Sur – A Civil-Military Operations (CMO) Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) of the Philippine Army’s 53rd Infantry “Matapat” Battalion (53IB) Sergeant Jesel Laniohan was awarded the “2021 Best Enlisted Personnel” by Zamboanga del Sur Governor Victor J. Yu during the Most Outstanding Zambosurians Awarding Ceremony as part of ZamboSur’s 69th Anniversary Celebration with the theme “Sa paglipad 🦅 ng Zamboanga del Sur, bida ang bakunadong Zambosurians.”
A working hard and highly motivated soldier, Sgt. Laniohan conducted lectures on Barrio Module, counter ideology, and deceptive recruitment of the CPP-NPA-NDF to the 15 batches of Barangay Defense System (BDS) composed of 685 students in Barangay Valencia, Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur from November 2020 to March 2021 and conducted lectures about Communist-NPA Terrorist (CNT) infiltration to the 11 batches of Dumingag Youth Leadership Summit composed of 315 students.
Sgt. Laniohan was also one of the facilitators of 53IB’s conduct of Mass Base Operations (MBO). Most remarkable of these is the capture of a certain Lemuel Shay AKA “Bobong,” a member of Main Regional Guerrilla Unit (MRGU) of the Western Mindanao Regional Party Committee (WMRPC). Recovered from AKA Bobong was a Cal .45 with one (1) magazine and seven (7) live ammunition. Furthermore, troops secured the area which resulted to the recovery of one (1) improvised M14 rifle with fifteen (15) live ammunition, one (1) hand grenade, one (1) UHF handheld radio, five (5) cellular phones one (1) cellphone charger, and assorted electric wires.
With these remarkable achievements, Sergeant Laniohan was awarded this special recognition for his commitment to help and maintain a lasting peace and order in the province making it conductive for future development.
Sgt. Laniohan is a proud Zambosurian residing in the Municipality of Molave, Zamboanga del Sur.
(Source: 53rd Infantry Battalion, photo courtesy of Army transformation roadmap)