Army relieves colonel who lost men in clash with NPA

From the Daily Tribune (Dec 8): Army relieves colonel who lost men in clash with NPA

The Army’s 5th Infantry Division (ID) has relieved an officer who had lost seven of his men, including a 2nd lieutenant fresh from the Philippine Military Academy, in a firefight with communist rebels in southern Isabela. According to the 5th ID based in Camp Melchor de la Cruz in Gamu town, Col. Eduardo Collado was meted an “R and R” (rest and recreation) from his post as commander of the 502nd Infantry Brigade while higher officials are investigating the encounter last Nov. 17 in Echague’s Mabbayad village which led to seven soldiers killed. Col. Loreto Magundayao, 5th ID spokesman and chief of the division’s civil-military operations battalion, said Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Marcos, division deputy commanding general, temporarily took over concurrently as general officer-in-charge of the brigade. Marcos was the 502nd Brigade commander before his promotion to division deputy commanding general. The 5th ID covers practically the whole of Northern Luzon, with most of the Ilocos, Cordillera and Cagayan Valley regions.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/nation/item/7845-army-relieves-colonel-who-lost-men-in-clash-with-npa