Local execs, relatives to give burial honors to 2 soldiers killed in Basilan

COTABATO CITY — Relatives of the two soldiers killed in an ambush in Sumisip, Basilan, on Wednesday, January 22, will arrange separate "hero’s burials" for each to honor their deaths in the line of duty.

Cpl. Orland James Diamel and Pfc. Mark Barat of the 32nd Infantry Battalion were killed instantly from multiple bullet wounds during the attack, which also left 12 of their comrades wounded.

Local officials in Basilan told reporters that the slain soldiers were part of a team escorting representatives from the United Nations Development Programme. They were establishing contacts with local communities for potential anti-poverty projects and were leaving Barangay Cabengbeng in Sumisip when they were ambushed by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front positioned along the route.

Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon, commander of the Army's 101st Infantry Brigade in Basilan, said on Friday, January 24, that an Air Force helicopter transported Barat’s remains to Cotabato Airport in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte. From there, a team of soldiers took the remains to Carmen, his hometown in Cotabato province, Region 12. 

Radio reports from Central Mindanao on Friday stated that barangay leaders and relatives of Diamel, from Kalawit, Zamboanga del Norte, and Barat, a native of Carmen, will give the soldiers special burial honors to honor their 'supreme sacrifice' in the line of duty.

Relatives of Barat in Carmen expressed their grief over his death but found some comfort in the thought that he died serving the Filipino people as a soldier.

“Yes, it is so painful for us, but we stand strong, inspired by his `supreme sacrifice' for our country and God,” Barat’s girlfriend of eight years, Antonette Mylah Nibre Brizo, said in between sobs. 

The governor of Cotabato province, Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, who is also a resident of Carmen, said she is also proud of Barat.

She said her office, along with the local government unit of Carmen, will provide the necessary support for Barat’s family during his burial.

Local officials in Sumisip, along with Brig. Gen. Luzon, who oversees Army units in Basilan, separately told reporters that Diamel, Barat, and their 12 wounded companions, who are now in the hospital, were leaving Barangay Cabengbeng when they were ambushed by MILF members.

Sources from the local government of Sumisip said there were changes to the itinerary of the visiting UNDP officials, whom the soldiers were helping connect with local communities. The officials were on their way to another area when they were ambushed along the route.

Anwar Alamada, a leader of the MILF’s ad-hoc ceasefire monitoring group, which has a counterpart in the government, said that the deadly incident could have been avoided if the 32nd IB had coordinated their non-tactical mission in Cabengbeng with local MILF commanders 

“There are agreed protocols on that, set by the MILF and the government,” Alamada said in an interview with Catholic Station, DXMS, in Cotabato City.