6th ID bids fallen Army sniper emotional goodbye

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao --- Uniformed and civilian Personnel of the 6thInfantry Division on Tuesday bade goodbye to a young soldier who died on Easter Sunday from injuries sustained in a firefight last week with bandits in Datu Saudi town.The cadaver of slain Pfc. Marlon Reyes was airlifted to Manila on Tuesday, en route to his place of origin, Batangas City.Reyes belonged to the 14thMechanized Company of the Army’s 1stMechanized Battalion based in Sharif Aguak, the old provincial capital of Maguindanao.Reyes, who succumbed on Easter Sunday while undergoing medication at a hospital, was one of three soldiers wounded in a two-hour firefight with members of the brigand Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in a secluded Barangay in Datu Saudi, located in the south of the province.The 6thID’s rank-and-file personnel, led by the division’s officer-in-charge, Col. Arnel Dela Vega, gave Reyes planeside honors before facilitating the airlift of his remains from the Maguindanao Airport near Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat town to the Villamor Airbase in Metro Manila. He was nice to fellow soldiers and friends outside of the military circle when he was still alive,” said Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson of the 6thID.Army and Marine units have had 29 encounters with the BIFF in seven towns in the second district of Maguindanao from February 28 to April 1.The four-week military-BIFF face-off dislocated more than 120,000 villagers, now cramped in squalid evacuation sites.Petinglay said Army units are now helping the regional government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the office of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu attend to the needs of evacuees following last week’s deescalation of military offensives against the BIFF.