BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
After being abandoned by his comrades at the encounter site, the Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion facilitated the decent burial of the suspected rebel leader who died in an encounter on November 21 in Sitio Banderahan, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental.
The remains of Victoriano Baldonado, commanding officer of the Section Guerilla Unit of the Central Negros 1, which is under the supervision of the Komiteng Rehiyonal Negros/Cebu/Bohol/Siquijor, were turned over to his family on Nov. 22, as facilitated by the Guihulngan City Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (GCTF-ELCAC), of which the 62IB is a member.
In a statement issued by the 62IB, the family of the slain rebel leader thanked the Guihulngan TF ELCAC for the proper handling of the cadaver of their departed member, which provided the coffin and a sack of rice, through the efforts of the City Social Welfare and Development Office.
The 62IB issued statement said that the cadaver of Baldonado was abandoned by his fleeing comrades, in order to save their own lives.
Army soldiers also recovered an M-16 assault rifle with three magazines and a back pack containing personal belongings at the encounter site.
The Philippine Army further said that the communist terrorist group does not value the lives of their comrades.
Only the concerned family and the government took care of his remains until the last moment. This is a lesson that the family should not be sacrificed and neglected for the sake of false ideology, the statement stressed.*
