Two army soldiers killed, six seriously wounded in Kalinga ambush

From the Philippine News Agency (May 9): Two army soldiers killed, six seriously wounded in Kalinga ambush

The Police Regional Office Cordillera (PROCOR) based here confirmed late afternoon Thursday the death of two soldiers and critical wounding of six others in a 9:30 a.m. ambush staged by a band of armed men in Sitio Patiking, Barangay Bagumbayan, Tabuk City in Kalinga Province.

PROCOR public information officer Police Senior Superintendent Dave Limmong identified the killed soldiers as Corporal Wilfredo Bacacao, a native of Lubuagan, Kalinga, and Corporal Allen Pattaguan, a native of Cagayan Province.

The ambushed soldiers belong to the 17th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army serving the province of Kalinga.

The six soldiers wounded were identified as: TSGT Herminigildo Vergara, Tsgt Constante Alupante, Tsgt Rico Delacuesta, SSgt. Michael Adducul, Sgt. Wayne Aguinaldo and Pfc. Delfin Goyagoy.

They remain at a hospital in that province for medical treatment, but doctors said that one of them in critical condition might be airlifted to Cauayan, Isabela any time from now.

They were escorting the "Air 21", a company contracted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to deliver 28 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to Lubuagan, Kalinga which will be used in the May 13 mid-term elections.

Army colonel Roger Salvador, commanding officer of the ambushed soldiers, said Bacacao and Pattaguan were critically wounded in the ambush, and together with their comrades in arms exchanged fires with the armed band believed to belong to the New People's Army (NPA) if only to protect the Air 21 personnel.

Kalinga provincial election supervisor Dexter Cawis said the Comelec is now studying whether to place the 3,119.7-square kilometer Kalinga Province under Comelec control due to the presence of communist insurgents in the area.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=524265