MANILA - The Philippine Army, which is celebrating its 119th anniversary this year, will soon transform one of its divisions to territorial defense group, in line with its vision of transforming its troops into a world-class army.

Speaking to ANC's "Talkback with Tina Monson Palma," Army Commanding General, Lieutenant General Eduardo Año, said the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States will aid in transforming the Army.

"Dahil EDCA site ito, mas mapapaganda ang ating facilities dito, in time for our strategy direction of designating a territorial defense division. We are now planning to start developing one division into a territorial defense division," he said.

"Sa Army lang po ito. Ito na 'yung ating tinatawag na vision na maging world-class army. 'Yung doctrine dito, 'yung pamamaraan dito, more on conventional warfare... It will be at par with ASEAN (armies), and later on, at par with the world-class armies," Año added.

As part of the agreement, Fort Magsaysay, as an EDCA site, will be further developed as a training area.

"The Army, we have the Fort Magsaysay as one of the EDCA sites, and coincidentally, ito ay aming dinedevelop na combat readiness training area. Fort Magsaysay is home to many army units, and most of our training exercises are done in Fort Magsaysay," Año said.

Although the equipment that they will be using is purely for training purposes, Año believe that training with modern equipment will help prepare Filipino soldiers for any possible tension in the future.

"Base po sa EDCA, ito po ay for training. Iba naman po 'yung sitwasyon kung magkaroon na po ng giyera. Pero ito po ay for training," he said.

Peace process

Meanwhile, Año said different stakeholders are doing their part in upholding peace in Mindanao despite the non-passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

"Bagaman hindi natuloy ang BBL, mataas pa rin ang aming kumpyansa na tuloy tuloy ang pag-observe natin dito sa peace negotiation kasi tuloy pa rin ang aming pakikipag-usap sa leaders ng ating mga MILF. In fact, meron pong tinatawag na mga mechanism na naitatag para tuloy tuloy," he said.

He added that the Army trusts the sincerity of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), emphasizing that minor conflicts are often brought about by culture.

"Sa ngayon po nakikita namin ang sinseridad ng mga leadership ng MILF. May mga konting pangyayari sa ibaba na hindi maiiwasan. Halimbawa kasi, may kultura na tinatawag na "rido," kung saan ang ibang MILF members ay maiinvolve dahil kamag-anak niya, pero hindi natin masasabing alarming dahil nasosolve ito sa level sa ibaba."

"On the totality, we can simple say na maganda pa rin ang sitwasyon sa Central Mindanao," Año added.