Commission on Human Rights (PNA) LEGAZPI CITY - The Commission on Human Rights in Bicol (CHR-5) Wednesday condemned the latest attack by suspected members of the New People's Army against government troops doing a rescue mission in Albay recently. Lawyer Arlene Alangco, CHR Bicol regional director, said the assault against two soldiers of the Philippine Army's 31st Infantry Battalion last Monday in barangay Cotmon, Camalig town, was also an attack on the country's peace and stability. "(The) attack on the security sector is an attack on the peace and stability of the country, and the people they have sworn to serve and protect," Alangco said. Privates John Paul C. Adalim and Mark June D. Esico, who were buying supplies for the search and rescue operation of the crashed Cessna aircraft in Albay, died on the spot after they were shot multiple times in a market in barangay Cotmon, said Capt. Frank Roldan, 9th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office (DPAO) chief. Rold
(Infographic courtesy of 9ID, Philippine Army) LEGAZPI CITY - Two soldiers of the Philippine Army's 31st Infantry Battalion died in an ambush perpetrated by suspected communist-terrorist group (CTG) members while buying supplies for a search and rescue mission in Albay province on Monday. In a report on Tuesday, Capt. Frank Roldan, 9th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office (DPAO) chief, identified the fatalities as Private John Paul C. Adalim and Private Mark June D. Esico who suffered severe bullet wounds in their bodies that caused their immediate death when ambushed at a market in Barangay Cotmon, Camalig town. "The CTG took advantage of the fact that the troops of the 31st Infantry Battalion were busy assisting in the search and rescue operation of the crashed Cessna aircraft in Albay after they ambushed two soldiers who were just buying supplies. It was learned that while the two soldiers were in the market, five armed men ambushed them and three of them indiscriminatel