Army gives planeside honors to slain soldiers

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - The Army’s 6th Infantry Division on Tuesday gave planeside honors to the soldiers killed last Sunday in Basilan as their remains arrived at the Maguindanao Airport en route to their hometowns in Central Mindanao.

Major Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of 6th ID, said the rank-and-file personnel of the division mourns the death of the six soldiers killed in an ambush by bandits in Basilan's Sumisip town, even as they all belong to the 1st Infantry Division.

“As soldiers we are all brothers. In the big Philippine Army family, losing members this way is painful for all. Death in line of  duty is honorable. As soldiers we have to live by our sacred oath to serve the Filipino nation at all cost,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan led the airport ceremony for four of the six slain soldiers, whose cadavers were brought Tuesday to the Maguindanao airport in Datu Odin Sinsuat town from Zamboanga City by an Air Force C-130 plane.

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

Another ambush fatality, Pfc. Raffy Canuto, is from Barangay Pansod in Lebak, a coastal town in Sultan Kudarat, about 90 kilometers west of the 6th ID's command center, Camp Siongco, near the Maguindanao airport.

Canuto’s father, Rudy, 60, said his son last talked to him via mobile phone more than a month ago, asking to be excused from a family gathering on Christmas Day next month. 

“He told me he could not make it because of his assignments and asked for an apology. He promised to make up when he comes home next year,” the older Canuto said in Hiligaynon dialect.

The 64th IB, which originally belonged to the 6th ID, was first reassigned to Lanao del Sur from the second district of Maguindanao in early 2010 and eventually became a component unit of the 1st ID.

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

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 her four constituent-soldiers.

“It is but fitting and proper to help their bereaved families and honor these 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.