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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Locals failed to help soldiers
The 18-man team led by 2nd Lt. Luel Adrian Benedicto of the 19th Infantry Battalion did not expect an encounter with suspected rebels in Barangay San Agustin, Palo, Leyte last Monday.
Benedicto, 27, said he was ordered to take the team to San Agustin to verify reports of an armed group in the area.
Briefing his superiors and members of the media yesterday, Benedicto said residents of Barangay San Agustin did not even bother to help him and his men to evacuate the wounded.
Nine persons died, six others were wounded and eight persons were arrested. (See related story)
At 9 p.m. Sunday, Benedicto was ordered to organize two squads for an operation in Palo.
They left the 19th IB base in Ormoc City at midnight and proceeded to the area.
To keep themselves hidden, Benedicto said they got off their vehicle and moved towards the hut on foot.
Separated by a creek, he said they could see silhouettes of the suspected rebels. He then decided to separate them into two groups and they crawled through the muddy rice paddies.
He cautioned his men to be careful because the moon was bright that night and he wanted them to remain unnoticed.
It took them more than an hour to move closer because they were crawling one by one.
Benedicto said he could hear the sound of someone cocking a firearm and could make out the figure of a guard bringing a rifle.
“We could see that they were armed. But we did not move in yet because we were not sure who else was there.
There may have been children or women, so I waited,” Benedicto said.
At 5:45 a.m., it was difficult for them to remain hidden in the rice paddies as the sun was coming up.
Suddenly, one of the guards shouted, “May tao (Someone’s here)!” and allegedly opened fire at Benedicto’s troops.
45 minutes
Benedicto said that when the first bullets landed just inches away from him, he decided that they had no choice but to defend themselves because their lives were now at stake.
He said they were lucky that the rebels did not see the other group on the other side.
After about 45 minutes of gunfire, Benedicto noticed that no one was returning fire from the other side and he ordered his troops through their radio to cease firing.
His men caught up with eight of the rebels who had difficulty running in the mud. He saw three more escape.
Benedicto said he asked for help in evacuating the wounded from residents in the barangay who watched the firefight from a distance, but they allegedly did not react.
Compatriots
“Sabi ko anong klaseng mga kababayan kayo? Pero wala, deadma (I asked them why they weren’t helping their countrymen. They ignored me),” Benedicto narrated.
He claimed that his men lifted the wounded and the dead by themselves until they reached the main road.
They later recovered the evidence in the hut.
(November 23, 2005 issue)
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