Mistahs of Army officer slain in MILF attack in mourning

MANILA, Philippines – Members of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Bigkis Lahi” Class 1990 are mourning the death of their mistah, Lt. Col. Angel Benitez, executive officer of the Army’s 102nd Infantry Brigade, who was killed along with several soldiers and innocent civilians when Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels attacked Kulambugan, Lanao del Norte last Monday.

Police Superintendent Eliseo Cruz, class president of the PMA Bigkis Lahi Class of 1990, extends his grievances to the family of his fellow PMAer.

“While we PMA graduates are willing to sacrifice our lives in the defense of our country, we deeply regret the manner in which he met his untimely death in the hands of our own countrymen. Lt. Col. Benitez was a promising officer,” Cruz said in a text message, adding that they continue to support the peace process.

“He is a great loss not only to our class, to the Philippine Army and to the Armed Forces of the Philippines but also to the Philippine government as a whole. We all deeply mourn his passing and we pray that his untimely death and of all the others who perished in the attack will not be in vain in the attainment of lasting peace in Mindanao,” he said.

Benitez just topped the General Staff Course that is taken by field grade military officers before they could be assigned as battalion commanders or brigade staff, and his classmates see him as a dedicated combat officer.

But last Monday, the promising officer and two of his men were killed when their convoy was ambushed by MILF rebels in Barangay Libertad in Kulambugan town.

He was 41.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, army spokesman said Benitez, with three of his men, was on his way to the headquarters of the Task Force Tabak in Iligan from the 1st Infantry Division headquarters in Labangan,  Zamboanga del Sur when they were waylaid by a still unidentified number of MILF rebels.

He was the highest-ranking officer that was killed in combat with the MILF in recent years.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Victor Ibrado said they mourn the loss of Benitez, who was described as a very good and competent officer.

“We grieve the loss of a very good officer, I know him personally. He was a very good officer, very competent. Nakakapanghinayang for somebody to die at such an early age,” Ibrado said.

“It is saddening. He just topped the General Staff Course at Camp Aguinaldo. He had the option of remaining at Camp Aguinaldo but chose to return to the field,” Lt. Col. Dong Palafox, one of his classmates, said in a phone interview.

Brawner said  Benitez, a native of Naguilian, La Union, sustained a gunshot wound on his head that caused his death.

“His body was retrieved only this afternoon after the MILF rebels were driven away from the area,” he said.

Lt. Col. Agane Adriatico, spokesman for the army’s 1st Infantry “Tabak” Division, said Benitez even managed to call for reinforcement after he got hit.

Brawner, Benitez’s squadmate at the PMA recalls him as an intelligent officer and a kind friend.

“He was an original member of Class 1989 but was turned back.  Since Day One at the Academy we were together,” he said.

Another officer, Lt. Col. Dennis Villanueva, commander of the 53rd Infantry Battalion, was killed in an encounter with renegade Moro National Liberation Front rebels in Panamao, Sulu last February 2005.   – Michelle Zoleta, James Mananghaya