Philippine Army, Special Operations Command ready for typhoon ‘Ruby’

Image from DOST PAGASA

MANILA — The headquarters of the Philippine Army and the Special Operations Command has activated its “Sulong Bayanihan” contingency plan for possible disaster relief and humanitarian missions that may be needed once Typhoon “Ruby” makes landfall Sunday morning in Samar.

This includes placing the 525th Engineer Construction Battalion and the entire 51st Engineer Brigade on stand-by, 7th Civil Relations Group commander Major Emmanuel Garcia said Saturday.

He added that various disaster response task units (DRTUs) are now ready for deployment.

This is aside from one battalion dedicated to relief and rescue work, Garcia disclosed.

Also organized were forward support teams for petroleum, oil, and lubricants (POL), meals-ready-to-eat (MREs),water, mobility assets and other logistics.

Garcia said that communication vans and manpack public address systems are also being readied.

He also said that Special Operations Command is also prepared to paradrop troops and supplies in isolated areas that may be severely affected by typhoon “Ruby.”