The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Western Mindanao Command honored today 5 Marines who were injured in a clash with the Abu Sayyaf Group last week.
Wesmincom
Commander, Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, personally pinned the wounded personnel
medal to Sergeant Rey Addatu, Corporal Elmer De Jesus, Corporal Jomar Ballad,
Private First Class Paul Julius Calamay, and Private First Class Ronwaldo
Dalayday.
The five belong
to the Marine Batallion Landing Team 2.
Addatu said they
were conducting military operations when they encountered the group in the
vicinity of Barangay Latih, Patikul, Sulu last August 28.
The soldiers'
encounter with some 300 bandits lasted for an hour. The clash left 10 soldiers
wounded. Three Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed.
The recipients of
the award are currently confined at the Camp Navarro General while another five
soldiers are in a private hospital in the city.
Wesmincom
spokesperson Capt. Rowena Muyuela said all the wounded soldiers are now in
stable condition.
Two of them also
were transferred today to the Manila
Naval Hospital
In a phone
interview, Muyuela denied the presence of international Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)
terrorists during the encounter.
She added that
pursuit operations against the bandits in Sulu are still ongoing in an effort
to rescue the remaining hostages of the group.
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