Aurora mayor survives attack that kills soldier, wounds 2 others

FORT RAMON MAGSAYSAY, Palayan City, Nueva Ecija—Dingalan town Mayor Sherwin Taay survived a Friday night attack that killed a soldier and wounded two others, when armed men fired at a group of local government employees who were on their way to a gift-giving activity.

The identities of the soldiers have not been released.

The lone fatality and the two injured soldiers were part of a military team escorting Taay’s delegation as they crossed the sea on two motorboats to visit the Sinagawan Elementary School in the subvillage of Sinagawan in Umiray village.

The armed men, suspected to be communist rebels, fired at the motorboats at 10 p.m. as they neared the docks, said Capt. Ronel Rabot, acting information office chief of the Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Division (7ID).

One of the boats capsized when the employees panicked and tried to evade the hail of bullets, he said.

The gifts they were delivering to the school were lost at sea.

The military escorts, led by 2Lt. Ghelyn Batomalaque, came from the Charlie Company of the 56th Infantry Battalion.

Major Gen. Angelito de Leon, 7ID commander, ordered the military to pursue the armed men.