3 soldiers still missing in Maguindanao mishap

COTABATO CITY – Three Army soldiers have been missing since the other day after their rubber boat overturned in Illana Bay while they were on their way to a coastal district in Upi, Maguindanao to reinforce their companions pursuing an armed group that clashed with an influential clan there.

Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, information officer of the Armed Forces, identified the soldiers as Sgt. Felix Silvestre, Pfc. Glen Caburnay and Pvt. Radge Kem Plameras, all of the 6th Infantry Battalion which is under the operational control of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Maguindanao.

Divers of the 2nd Special Forces Battalion have been scouring the shark-infested waters of Illana Bay to look for the three missing soldiers.

Meanwhile, coastal residents in Upi have urged the military to immediately "pacify" the two warring clans in Barangay Laguitan and stop insisting that the hostilities in the area involved Abu Sayyaf members. — John Unson