Commander’s Profile
LTC TERENCE P YLANAN INF (GSC) PA
LTC TERENCE P YLANAN serves as the 17th Commanding Officer of the 53IB. He has honed his skills in the field of operations and intelligence from his twenty years of experience deployed in Luzon and Mindanao confronting various threats to the national security, particularly the communist terrorist threat group in Luzon; the Maute local terrorist group in Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao; and has extensive engagements with peace-inclined groups particularly with the MILF and MNLF in Central Mindanao.
Military Training
In 2002, he completed his military education at the Philippine Military Academy. He completed Basic and Advance Infantry Courses at the Training and Doctrine Command Philippine Army, an Advance Intelligence Course at The Intelligence School Philippine Army, and Staff Officer Course at Army Leadership Center.
From 2002 to 2005, he commanded an infantry platoon and, later, an infantry company in central Luzon. He has also served as an infantry battalion executive officer from 2006 to 2007, a brigade executive officer in 2014, and a deputy assistant chief of staff for infantry division operations from 2015 to 2016.
From 2009 to 2010, he led a military intelligence company in central Luzon; from 2018 to 2020, an Intelligence and Security Unit in Central Mindanao; and from 2020 to 2021, an Army CounterIntelligence Battalion covering the entire Philippines. He has served as the production officer of Joint Task Force Noah – the AFP’s antiillegal drug task force, as an assistant Commandant of The Intelligence School of the Philippine Army, and as the production officer for the Joint Intelligence Task Force Marawi during the five-monthlong effort to liberate the city from the terrorist siege in 2017.
LTC YLANAN has received numerous military awards and recognitions for dedication to duty, he is a recipient of the Gold Cross Medal from his role in the neutralization of an ISIS bomber in General Santos City in 2018.
Family
He is married to MAJ MARIA LOURDES M YLANAN and blessed with one son and two daughters; Leeward, Maria Ysabelle, and Maria Abigail.
Leadership Journey
LTC YLANAN is fondly called “Anjo” by his friends. He has the natural tendency to work above and beyond normal expectations. He usually checks, double checks, rechecks, and counter-checks his work to find ways to improve it even further. However, he avoids risk aversion, he believes that taking a calculated risk is acceptable as long as you take the time to identify the consequences of a planned action. Several mentors and associates influenced his leadership qualities.
Early Years
During his childhood, he was taught by his father, an enlisted Army soldier, and mother, a government employee, to get up early and do daily tasks such as feeding the chickens and pigs, harvesting water spinach at the irrigation canal, fetching water, and selling home-made delicacies. All of these instilled discipline in his excitable mind. He showed his desire to excel in various fields during his youth; he opened his own sari-sari store while he was in secondary school, became a student council member, got elected to the Sangguniang Kabataan council, and took Citizen Army Training, where he was posted as the Battalion Commander.
Military Career
His military career began when he was accepted into the Philippine Military Academy during his first year of college, taking up BS in Accountancy at the Iligan Institute of Technology. He seized the opportunity, motivated by the desire to help alleviate his parents of the hardship of financing his college education and the interest in exploring a world unknown to him at the time. His values of honor, courage, and integrity were reinforced at the academy. He lived by these values until he graduated in 2002 and onwards with his military life.
After graduation, he was assigned to central Luzon, where he was involved in community activities to counter the communist narrative that was poisoning the masses. During his service in that region, he witnessed firsthand the pain and anguish that violent extremism can cause to affected families. His heart breaks every time he talks with family members who have lost their children to armed insurgency. Because he was born and raised by loving, caring, yet fair and disciplined parents, he can contrast their experience with his own. He first noticed the need for understanding and support among the families of violent extremists in central Luzon.
He was assigned to his home island of Mindanao in 2010. While immersed in the communities there, he witnessed and experienced a similar but slightly different struggle. He witnessed the people’s apparent acceptance that violence has become a part of their lives. Conflicts in Mindanao are far more violent, bloody, and costly in terms of human lives than conflicts in central Luzon. Every time there is violence, he counts the body bags. He realized that everyone was a victim after speaking with families from both sides of the fence: the insurgents, the soldiers, their families, and their communities.
Marawi Crisis
LTC YLANAN was in Marawi City for the duration of the 2017 conflict, joining an Intelligence Task Force formed after the start of the siege, and stayed until November, weeks after the city was liberated from the ISIS threat. While in the city, he had the unique opportunity to speak with every single rescued hostage and family of violent extremists. During these episodes, he became aware of the negative consequences of being a relative or kin of a violent extremist. The hopelessness in the eyes of those he interacts with is depressing, but when offered acceptance and faith, the same eyes would sparkle with life and hope. Motivated by these experiences, he wished that those born into an extremist family should not be condemned but rather allowed to become peace partners and contributing members of Filipino society. The stigma associated with being kin of a violent extremist should be erased.
Graduate Education
LTC YLANAN’s experience was improved by formal education at the AFP Education and Training Command, the Lyceum Northwestern University, and the Development Academy of the Philippines, where he completed Command and General Staff Course, Masters in Public Administration, and Masters in Public Management.
17th Commanding Officer of the 53rd Infantry (Matapat) Battalion
As the 17th Commanding Officer of the 53rd Infantry (Matapat) Battalion, LTC YLANAN plans on continuing his work with the community and the vulnerable, and ultimately sustaining PEACE gained in the province of Zamboanga del Sur so that living in violence and turmoil can truly become a thing of the past.
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