Slain soldiers on outreach mission

GAMU, Isabela , Philippines  – The seven government troops killed in last Friday’s broad daylight attack by New People’s Army (NPA) in Mt. Province were on their way to an outreach mission at the province’s capital, the Army said.

The Army’s 5th Infantry Division based here said that their slain colleagues were to help in the transportation as well as to secure villagers who were to attend a scheduled medical mission and consultation meeting in Bontoc town yesterday when they were ambushed by some 20 communist rebels.

“These soldiers died in pursuit of peace and development. They sacrificed their own lives for the well-being of our countrymen,” said Colonel Loreto Magundayao, chief of the 5th ID’s civil-military operations battalion.

The attack claimed the lives of 1st Lt. Lito Punio and his men Staff Sgt. Melchor Castro, Corporal Cornelio Balmes and Privates First Class Camilo Topinio, Windel Gazzingan, Antonio Banugan and James Tio-an.

The slain soldiers, all from the 5th ID’s 502nd reconnaissance company, were on their way to the civic mission site on board a military vehicle when the rebels from the Kilusang Larangay Gerilya operating in the province ambushed them along Sitio Sugit in Bontoc’s Barangay Samoki around noontime Friday.

Despite being surprised by the attack, the outnumbered state security forces were still able to fire back, which also resulted in the undetermined number of casualties from the enemy side as evidenced by fresh blood from where they held their ground, the Army said.

Reports said the ambushers took their colleagues’ firearms, which included four M16 rifles and an M4 rifle as well as the troop’s communications equipment and personal belongings, including combat boots.

Despite the incident, Magundayao said the medical and dental mission and consultation meeting with local and village officials and other sectors of the community pushed through as scheduled “as a tribute to the fallen soldiers’ courageous deeds.”

“The 5th ID led by Major Gen. Rommel Gomez sympathized and offered con­dolences to the bereaved family of our fallen soldiers who were part of the countless victims of killings by lawless communist terrorist group under the order of the Communist Party of the Philippines,” the 5th ID said in a statement.

Friday’s ambush incident was the first major setback of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, particularly in the northern Luzon area under the Aquino administration.

It came in the wake as new Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin called on the communist rebels to lay down their firearms first before the stalled peace talks with the more than three-decade old insurgency movement could resume.