FUNERAL VISIT. Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorezana visit the wake of Private First Class Freddie Delos Santos and Corporal Casidy Uday in a funeral parlor along Panacan, Davao City on Monday, June 12. The two soldiers died in a firefight with New People’s Army guerrillas in Sitio Bajada, Paradise Embac Village, Paquibato District in Davao City on Sunday, June 11. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The families of fallen soldiers Private First Class Freddie Delos Santos and Corporal Casidy Uday will be receiving cash assistance, and will be spared the wake and burial expenses, said City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Monday.
At the sidelines of her visit to the soldiers’ wake on Monday, Duterte-Carpio expressed condolences to the bereaved families, and lamented the loss of the soldiers a day before the 119th Independence celebration.
“We express our deepest condolences to the family of the slain [soldiers]. We commit to fully support their wake and burial expenses. And of course, we are also handing out cash assistance to the families,” she said.
Duterte-Carpio said she has advised the soldiers to come up with an operation plan that would secure the communities as well as themselves.
However, she added that the soldiers know best how to deal with the guerrillas since they are the ones on the ground.
“We thank them for their commitment to secure our city,” she said.
Delos Santos and Uday died in a firefight with New People’s Army guerrillas on Sunday, June 11.
According to an army dispatch, the soldiers were responding to reports indicating that a number of guerrillas were “consolidating” in the area of Sitio Bajada, Paradise Embac, Paquibato District here.
Six other troops were also wounded. The mayor committed to visiting them, but did not specify when.
In an interview, 1003rd Infantry Brigade Commander Col. Ernesto Torres, Jr., said the wounded troops are already out of harm’s way.
“They are being well taken cared of by the military and the Davao City government,” he said.
Torres also claimed that two on the side of the guerrillas were killed, and at least five were wounded. However, he clarified that they are still gathering information to verify the reports.
Torres said the two slain soldiers were set to be transferred Monday afternoon to the Libingan ng mga Bayani for both the wake and interment ceremonies.
Meanwhile, the NPA said two civilians were wounded after the military strafed a house in Paradise Embac on Sunday.
“One of the civilians was still in critical condition. The same Army battalion in Paquibato had also been responsible of mauling, ransacking of houses and other abuses,” Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesman of the NPA Regional Operations Command in Southern Mindanao said.
Sanchez said the NPAs “continue to firm up its battle positions while defending the rights of the people in the territories of the People’s Democratic Government” following the imposition of Martial Law in Mindanao.(davaotoday.com)
