Dari senjata hingga loyang: Tentara pahlawan yang terluka menemukan kehidupan baru

Sersan Eric Ubalde dari Komando Operasi Khusus (Socom) Angkatan Darat Filipina sudah tidak asing lagi dengan perang dan pertempuran. Dia telah bertempur selama pengepungan Zamboanga, selamat dari pertempuran di Jolo, Sulu, dan Lanao del Sur, dan yang terbaru, bertempur selama pengepungan Marawi.

Dia memiliki empat luka tembak yang mengingatkannya pada pertempuran tersebut.

Ubalde mungkin selamat dari Marawi pada bulan Mei lalu, namun ia tidak meninggalkan kota yang dilanda perang itu tanpa cedera. Ketika membersihkan salah satu rumah yang ditinggalkan, teroris Maute menembaki tentara, mengenai wajahnya. Itu adalah kali terakhir dia tertembak.

Hingga saat ini, tiga peluru masih bersarang di tubuhnya. Saat ini ia sedang dalam masa pemulihan di dalam Benteng Magsaysay di Nueva Ecija.

"Di ko masyado magalaw mungkin tumutusok. Ooperahan itu sangat penting bagi kami. Marami saraf di maapektuhan 'pag inopera," kata Ubalde.

(Saya tidak bisa menggerakkannya, seperti ada sesuatu yang menjahit. Mereka akan mengoperasinya setelah peluru terangkat. Banyak saraf yang akan terpengaruh setelah dioperasi).

Ubalde bersyukur bahwa dia telah selamat dari pertempuran lain, dan dia jauh lebih bersyukur karena dia menemukan kesempatan lain dalam hidupnya. Sersan ini telah terpilih sebagai salah satu penerima manfaat dari Proyek Noble Bakers dari Aboitiz Foundation, yayasan korporat Aboitiz Group, yang bermitra dengan Socom Foundation, Inc (SFI).

Dia, bersama dengan 59 tentara yang terluka lainnya menjalani program pelatihan manajemen toko roti komprehensif yang disediakan oleh Pilmico Foods Corporation, anak perusahaan makanan dari Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. Mereka diajarkan bagaimana cara menentukan harga dan mengembangkan produk roti, memanggang roti, kue, biskuit, adonan pizza, dan lain-lain.

Selain pelatihan, Aboitiz Foundation juga menyumbangkan peralatan kue berat seperti oven, mixer dan peralatan memanggang kepada Toko Roti The Noble Baker di dalam Benteng Magsaysay, yang dibangun oleh Socom.

Toko roti ini sekarang beroperasi dengan pasar yang telah ditangkap, yaitu para tentara dan penduduk di dalam reservasi militer serta sekolah-sekolah di sekitarnya.

Hasil penjualan toko roti itu akan disumbangkan kepada para prajurit yang terluka seperti Ubalde, kata Wakil Komandan Socom Kolonel Rey Aquino.

"Dana yang terkumpul dari SFI, yayasan operasi khusus, yan po yung nagsu-mendukung para personil yang terluka, habang nasa rumah sakit sila yung kanilang mga kamag-anak na nagbabantay, meron tayong pang-mempertahankan doon," katanya.

(Hasil penjualan akan disumbangkan ke SFI, yayasan operasi khusus, yaitu organisasi yang mendukung personel kami yang terluka. Saat mereka berada di rumah sakit, mereka bersama anggota keluarga mereka yang akan merawat mereka, sehingga kami juga dapat memenuhi kebutuhan mereka).

Sekarang, Ubalde menemukan kegembiraan yang luar biasa dalam membantu rekan-rekannya yang terluka, bukan dengan senjata atau peluru, melainkan dengan menggunakan loyang dan penggilas adonan.

Artikel asli: Inquirer.net

Pertanyaan yang Sering Diajukan

What does Sgt. Ubalde’s experience illustrate about the purpose and design of the Noble Bakers program?
Ubalde’s story — a soldier still carrying three bullets inside his body finding joy and purpose in baking bread for his fellow wounded colleagues — captures the fundamental intent of the Noble Bakers program: not merely to provide income but to restore a sense of service, usefulness, and contribution to men whose military careers have been altered by injury. His statement that it feels good to be able to help other wounded-in-action soldiers — even from behind a bakery counter — reflects the program’s deepest design principle: that purpose and dignity are as essential to rehabilitation as financial support.

Who is Sgt. Eric Ubalde and what is his story?
Sgt. Eric Ubalde of the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) of the Philippine Army is a combat veteran who fought in multiple Philippine military engagements — including the Zamboanga siege, encounters in Jolo and Lanao del Sur, and the Marawi siege. He sustained four gunshot wounds across these engagements, with three bullets still inside his body at the time of this report. During the Marawi siege, he was shot in the face while clearing an abandoned house. He was recovering inside Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija when he was selected as a Noble Bakers beneficiary.

What training did wounded soldiers receive through the Noble Bakers program?
Sgt. Ubalde, along with 59 other wounded soldiers, underwent comprehensive Bakery Management training provided by Pilmico Foods Corporation. The training covered how to cost and develop bakery products, as well as hands-on baking of bread, cakes, cookies, pizza dough, and other products. Aboitiz Foundation also donated heavy-duty baking equipment — including ovens, mixers, and baking utensils — to the Noble Baker’s Bakery inside Fort Magsaysay, which was constructed by SOCOM specifically to house the program’s operational bakery.

How does the Noble Bakers bakery support the financial welfare of wounded soldiers and their families?
SOCOM Deputy Commander Col. Rey Aquino explained that the bakery’s proceeds go to the Socom Foundation Inc. (SFI), which supports wounded personnel and their family members during hospitalization. While soldiers are recovering, their relatives who attend to them at the hospital receive financial support from the SFI — funded in part by the bakery’s revenues. This structure means that every loaf of bread sold by the Noble Bakers directly contributes to the welfare of wounded soldiers’ dependents.

What is the significance of the bakery’s captive market inside Fort Magsaysay?
The Noble Bakers bakery serves soldiers and residents inside the Fort Magsaysay military reservation, as well as neighboring schools. This captive institutional market provides a stable, reliable customer base that significantly reduces the business risk typically faced by newly established bakeries. Unlike a commercial bakery that must develop its customer base from scratch, the Noble Bakers entered the market with a defined group of ready customers — an advantage that makes the business more immediately viable and financially sustaining.