MARAWI CITY, Philippines — The deputy commander of the Army’s 103rd Brigade based in this city drowned while taking diving lessons in Initao, Misamis Oriental on Saturday, authorities reported yesterday.
Col. Nolie Anquillano, 54, was declared dead on arrival in a hospital where he was rushed by other divers who discovered that he drowned while taking diving lessons with the use of a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus in Barangay Tubigan.
The divers noticed that Anquillano was not with them in the water at around 10 a.m. They found his body four hours later.
Anquillano was a member of the Philippine contingent to the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission in the Middle East.
He had served in the government’s ceasefire committee that worked with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in preventing hostilities in Mindanao during the peace talks with the MILF.
The government-MILF peace initiative resulted in the creation of the Bangsamoro Authonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.