Hero’s burial set for young officer slain by NPA

MANILA, Philippines —The military officer who was killed by communist rebels in Compostela Valley last December is set to receive special military honors on his burial.

“The AFP Chief-of-staff General Gregorio Pio Catapang, Jr. directed the Central Command to accord Second Lieutenant Ronald Bautista with appropriate burial honors fit for a hero,” Armed Forces public affairs chief Lieutenant Colonel Harold Cabunoc said on Friday.

A firing party composed of soldiers from an Army unit based in Bohol has been readied for the burial ceremony that will be held at about 2 p.m. on Saturday in Nabanga town in Bohol.

“Officials from the local government and the military unit stationed in Cebu and Bohol will join the relatives during the said ceremony,” he said.

Local officials from Nabanga where Bautista grew up will also attend the burial.

Bautista, 25, was a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 2011.

He was riding a motorcycle with two other soldiers when members of the New People’s Army stopped them along the road in Cadinuyan village in Mabini town last December 29.

They were on their way home when they were shot dead by the rebels.