New Army brigade chief in Lanao vows orderly polls

MARAWI CITY --  The newly-installed brigade commander of the Army's 103rd Infantry "Haribon" Brigade has vowed to make the upcoming elections orderly, while continuing to pursue remnants of militant extremist groups.
 
Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. made the assurance as he assumed command of the 103IB on Tuesday, replacing Brigadier-General Generoso Ponio.

Ponio was appointed as the new Joint Task Force Ranao commander, replacing Brigadier General Manuel Ramiro Rey, who had been designated commander of the Special Operations Command based in Camp Aguinaldo.
 
Brawner said he wants to sustain three main operational objectives for the brigade under his watch.

First, he said government troops will sustain the manhunt against remnants of the ISIS-inspired Maute group and other terrorist organizations in Lanao provinces.
 
"The brigade has contributed to the neutralization of so many members of the Maute ISIS group," he said, while praising Ponio for leading the campaign.
 
Second, Brawner said he wanted "to make sure that next year's elections would be honest, orderly, peaceful," noting that two elections will take place next year--the plebiscite for the Bangsamoro Organic Law ratification and the midterm polls.
 
"I am optimistic that we will be able to do just that to achieve an honest and peaceful election," the Army official, noting that the last barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections had been generally peaceful here and in the entire Lanao del Sur.
 
The third objective, he said, would  be "to continue to support the rehabilitation of  Marawi."
 
"Through the Joint Task Force Ranao and Task Force Bangon Marawi, we will ensure that the environment here will be secured and peaceful so that the rehabilitation will go unhampered,"  Brawner said.
 
Brawner, 50, is a member of the "Makatao” Class of 1989 and was first assigned as platoon leader of the Army's 7th Infantry Division.

He became deputy commander of the Joint Task Force Ranao during the Marawi siege last year. He was last assigned as regiment commander of the Civil-Military Operations Group, the information arm of JTFM. (PNA)