Slain soldiers’ kin to get help

ILAGAN CITY, Philippines  – The Isabela provincial government is extending financial assistance to families of seven soldiers killed in an encounter with New People’s Army rebels in Barangay Mabbayad, Echague town.

Gov. Faustino Dy III said the families of those slain will each get P20,000 in financial assistance while the nine wounded soldiers will receive P5,000. Three of the fatalities hailed from Isabela.

Army Col. Loreto Mangudadatu, chief of the 5th Infantry Battalion’s civil-military operations battalion, said the soldiers “fought to the end in pursuit of peace.”