Sgt. Eric Ubalde is no ordinary soldier of the Special Operations Command of the Philippine Army. He’s a man of many lives, as his fellow soldiers would tell him. He had survived so many gun battles, had endured several gunshot wounds, four to be exact.
The first time he was hit was during the Zamboanga siege. They were attacked by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and he was shot in his left leg. The second gunshot was during an encounter with a group of bandits in Jolo, Sulu where two Australian and Canadian nationals were abducted. He was hit in the shoulder.
On Nov. 29, 2016, Sgt. Ubalde was with the Presidential Security Group (PSG) as part of the advance party for President Rodrigo Duterte who was set to visit Lanao del Sur the following day, when they were ambushed and an improvised explosive device was detonated. Sgt. Ubalde was hit in the neck, sustaining his third gunshot wound.
He may have survived Marawi in May but he didn’t leave the war-torn province unscathed. While clearing one of the abandoned houses, the Maute terrorists fired at the soldiers, hitting him in the face. That was the last time he got shot.
To date, three bullets remain inside his body. “Di ko masyado magalaw may tumutusok. Ooperahan daw pag umangat na yung bala. Marami daw nerves na maapektuhan pag inopera,” Sgt. Ubalde said.
For now he is confined inside Fort Magsaysay while recuperating from the gunshot wounds he sustained. He is thankful not only for having survived but also for being being given a new lease on life. He’s been chosen as one of the beneficiaries of the Noble Bakers’ Project of the Aboitiz Foundation, the corporate foundation of the Aboitiz Group, in partnership with the SOCOM Foundation, Inc. (SFI). The Aboitiz Foundation is the corporate foundation of the Aboitiz Group whose mission is to create safe, empowered, and sustainable communities.
Sgt. Ubalde along with 59 other wounded soldiers underwent a comprehensive bakery management training program provided by Pilmico Foods Corporation, the food subsidiary of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. They were taught how to cost and develop bakery products, bake bread, cakes, cookies, pizza dough, and a lot more.
Apart from the training, the Aboitiz Foundation also donated heavy-duty baking equipment like oven, mixer and baking utensils. The bakery inside Fort Magsaysay was built by the SOCOM. The Noble Bakers’ Bakery is now operational with captured market, which includes the soldiers and residents inside Fort Magsaysay and even the adjacent schools.