BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
No less than Defense Department officer-in-charge Jose Faustino Jr. yesterday led top officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in giving honors to the bravery of slain and injured Army soldiers, for protecting the people of Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, from the terroristic activities of the New People’s Army.
Faustino, accompanied by AFP chief of staff Gen. Vicente Bartolome Bacarro, Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. and Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, 3rd Infantry Division commander, personally led the awarding of Wounded Personnel Medal to each of the six injured members of the 94th Infantry Battalion at a private hospital in Bacolod City.
Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, yesterday said that an initial financial assistance was also extended to the families of two slain soldiers, who are residents of Iloilo and Guimaras, respectively.
A morale booster for the Army troops running after the NPA in Negros island, Pasaporte said that DND and top AFP officials visited the injured soldiers to assure them that they are being taken care of by the government.
The 94IB figured in four armed clashes with the NPA in the hinterlands of Brgy. Carabalan, Himamaylan City, from October 6 to 8, which also resulted in the temporary dislocation of the more than 1,700 individuals that are now staying in evacuation centers.
Pasaporte said they are not allowing yet the affected residents to return to their respective areas until such time it is cleared by the Philippine Army.
He lauded the leadership of Mayor Raymund Tongson and the Department of Social Welfare and Development for immediately attending to basic needs of displaced individuals, including their food and other basic needs.
As of this time, the hunt is still on for the fleeing communist terrorist NPA, Pasaporte said.*
