N. Cotabato to assist in the burial of slain soldiers

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - The provincial government will help facilitate the burials of four of the six soldiers- born and raised in the province- killed by Abu Sayyaf bandits in an ambush in Basilan last Sunday.

The four slain members of the Army’s 64th Infantry Battalion, Sgt. Tranquilino Germo, Privates First Class Rolando Entera, Freddie Pandoy, and Mark Singson, joined the 6th IB through the 6thInfantry Division while the unit was still in Maguindanao, under the division’s administrative control.  

The 64th IB was first reassigned to Lanao del Sur from the second district of Maguindanao in early 2010 and became a component unit of the 1st Infantry Division.

The battalion was deployed in Basilan, which is under the jurisdiction of the 1st ID, a year later.

Another ambush fatality, Pfc. Raffy Canuto, is from Barangay Pansod in Lebak, a coastal town in Sultan Kudarat, about 90 kilometers west of Cotabato City.

Germo, Entera and Pandoy are all from North Cotabato’s Aleosan town while Singson hailed from Barangay Manuangan in Pigcawayan municipality in the province.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said her office will extend cash assistance to the families of the four soldiers.

“It is but fitting and proper to help their bereaved families and honor these fallen men who had served the country to the point of an ultimate, supreme sacrifice – that of dying loyal to the nation,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza said each of the families of the four soldiers will receive a P5,000 financial package from the provincial government.

The local government units in the hometowns of the victims will also give them burial honors, according to the governor.

The team leader of the soldiers killed last Sunday while patrolling in Barangay Libug in Sumisip town in northeast of Basilan, 2nd Lieutenant Cresencio Corpuz, Jr., was born in Bacnotan, La Union.

The Philippine Air Force on Tuesday started transporting the remains of the soldiers to their respective provinces.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of 6th ID, said a group of soldiers under the division will bring their cadavers from the Maguindanao Airport near Camp Siongco to their homes in North Cotabato and in Sultan Kudarat.