MILF rebels kill Army officer

COTABATO CITY — Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels killed a young Army lieutenant — who was awarded a Gold Cross medal for his role in last year’s capture of the front’s Camp Rajah Muda — and wounded four others in an ambush in Pikit, North Cotabato the other day.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, identified the slain Army officer as 1Lt. Fermori Ogoc of the 40th Infantry Battalion based in Pikit, about 70 kilometers northeast of this city.

Ogoc and his colleagues were on their way to the Pikit town proper aboard a military jeep when the rebels, led by Commander Tarug, fired at them with assault rifles and B-40 rockets.

Ogoc died on the spot. Although outnumbered, his companions managed to fight back, killing two of their ambushers and wounding three others.

The rebel fatalities were identified as Tahir Tingan and Abubakar Pendi, who had long been hunted down for cattle-rustlings and armed robberies in Pikit and nearby towns.

Ando identified the four wounded soldiers as 1Lt. Carl de los Santos, Sgt. Alania Savillega, Pfc. Noli Montecastro and Pfc. Armand Lucero.

"It’s so sad that the ambush took place despite the ceasefire the MILF and the Armed Forces are supposedly observing," Ando said.

Ogoc was awarded a Gold Cross medal last year by then Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes for leading a company of soldiers, backed by Marines and tanks, in capturing the MILF’s Camp Rajah Muda at the boundary of Pikit and Pagalungan, Maguindanao.

Ando said the 6th ID will file a formal protest with the government peace panel, now engaged in talks with the MILF in Malaysia.

Last Sunday, Ando said MILF guerrillas swooped down on Army detachments in Barangays Tupig and Tonganon, both in Carmen town, and in Barangay Lining in Datu Piang.

"The rebels just surrounded these detachments and recklessly opened fire with their automatic weapons and then fled after the soldiers manning them returned fire to prevent them from closing in," he said.