Circulating on Facebook over the past few weeks was an entry believed to be a first-hand account on how Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon leaders were neutralized in Marawi, eventually leading President Duterte to declare the devastated city from the influence of the Maute-ISIS.
The entry is titled: Scout Ranger Books, dated October 16, 2017. Here goes: Mula kay “Destroyer,” ang commander ng 8th Scout Ranger Company na nakatama kina Isnilon Hapilon at Omar Omar Maute, ito ang mga huling oras ng dalawang notorious naterorista: Alam ng Scout Rangers at ibang units na sumusuporta sa kanila na cordon na nila ang isang grupo ng terorista pero di nila alam na sina Hapilon ito. Alas siyete ng gabi, nagdeploy ang 1 team ng Scout Rangers sa dulo ng kalsada, sa may likod ng block. Kasama nila ang isang armored vehicle na may thermal capability. Isa pang team nagdeploy naman sa kabilang dulo ng kalsada na pwede rin nila takasan at ganun din, may armored vehicle din.
Alam nila na mag attempt tatakas ang mga terorista kaya nag abang ng nag abang ang mga Rangers. Hanggang 1:30 ng madaling araw, may tumawid. E Alerto ang Ranger, boom kunana. Tumba ang isang terorista. Di nila alam, si Omar Maute na pala yun. E may pasilip silip pa din, akmang tatawid. Boom kunana, galing naman sa secondary weapon ng armored vechile. Tumba din. Di rin alam ng Rangers na yun na pala si Isnilon Hapilon. Madaling araw, inattempt ng mga kasama ng dalawang terorista na i recover ang mga katawan ng dalawang tumba na kasama nila. E nilamayan ng Rangers. Kada may lumapit, pitikan.
Pagliwanag, mabilisan na plano, para kunin ang dalawang bangkay na naitumba nila. Sa isang napaka daring na move, na pang action movie mo lang makita, pinasok ng mga Rangers kasama ang armored vehicles at mabilis na nakuha ang dalawang bangkay. Maya maya, naglalabasan na ang mga babaeng hostages. Tinakbo nila at sinabi: “Sir, sina Isnilon Hapilon at Omar Maute ang mga napatay niyo. Hiyawan, sigawan lahat ng tropa! Di nila akalain na natumba na pala nila ang dalawang leader ng mga terorista. Diyan natapos ang kasamaan ni Hapilon at Maute.”
After Armed Forces Chief of Staff Eduardo Ano confirmed the killing of two ISIS leaders, it was revealed that a sniper headshot indeed took out Maute. Hapilon who tried to run took three bullets to his chest in a display of precision shooting.
The give-away that had Baguio City and the province of Benguet buzzing was the unknown commander’s use of the phrase “boom kunana”twice.
It literally meant, ‘boom it said’ or ‘boom the gun barked.’ The implication was clear. Whoever was the commander of the scout ranger team was most likely a ‘kailian’ or a townmate or so many believed.
It is no wishful thinking. Before he retired last month, Brig. Gen. Alexander Macario, the commander of the Light Reaction Regiment, was himself in the midst of Marawi fighting. He is my mother’s neighbour in Poblacion, La Trinidad, Benguet. The same officer was earlier featured on Facebook leading the rescue of wounded combatants in the initial stages of the Marawi conflict.
But for act of sheer bravado, there is none approaching what is attributed to Scout ranger Capt. Jeff Buada (PMA Class 2007) on October 19,2017. From various accounts including that of Radio Bombo Baguio , it seemed that at the thick of fighting where the distance between the rangers and terrorists was a matter of meters, the plight of women and children hostages did not escape the soldiers’ attention, their wailing and crying probably interspersed with the firing of guns.
Without much ado, Buada,33, and a resident of Tuba, Benguet, stopped firing, and called on both sides for a momentary ceasefire to enable him and his men to rescue the hostages. Both sides agreed.
The succeeding picture showed him carrying a girl to safety with his men assisting the rest of the hostages.
This done and on signal, the firing resumed. It appeared that Buada was earlier wounded in the first weeks of hostilities but after having been treated of his wounds, chose to go back to the frontline.
The Cordillera provinces of Benguet, Ifugao,Kalinga, Abra and Mt. Province had probably more than 100 officers and men (both in the armed forces and the PNP’s Special Action Force) who fought in Marawi.
The SAF director, Chief Supt. Benjamin M. Lusad (PMA 1985), comes from Bontoc, Mt. Province while several of his officers, Supts. Lambert Suerte, Mario Mayames, Ledon Monte and Jack Angong come from Benguet.
For bragging rights, the San Jose High School, in the vicinity of the strawberry fields in La Trinidad, Benguet had three alumni in Marawi: Lt. Col. Romulus Rabara, Capt. Russel Bawat and Capt. Islaem Cubos.
The Lepanto High School (also in Benguet) had three alumni in the battle zone: Mayames, Monte and Marine Lt. John Sianen.
What probably made the Cordillera combatants in Marawi stood out was their tight discipline, camaraderie, loyalty and their innate trait not to shirk from difficult tasks. It is however doubtful if anybody among them brought along betel nuts to chew while stalking the terrorists.
In the end, even Armed Forces chief of Staff Eduardo Ano had only praises for the soldiers from the Cordillera for their role in assaulting the Maute terrorists.
Ano also paid tribute to the ultimate sacrifice of not a few Cordilleran soldiers during the battle to take out Hapilon and Omar Mate.
In trying to take over Marawi, the Maute-ISI have indirectly given government combatants, the Cordillerans among them, the needed experience in urban warfare—making them all-around warriors and officers in the process.
On hindsight, I think the warrior tradition that remains very much a part of highland culture is what attracted many recruits from the Cordillera to the SAF and to the various services of the armed forces. The government’s campaign to eradicate the Abu Sayyaf in the Sulu Archipelago has also seen the gallantry and sacrifice of army officers and men from the Cordillera.
The late PSI Gednat Carambas Tabdi who perished in the Mamasapano encounter, for instance, is the son of a neighbour in La Trinidad, Benguet. Four of his men who perished in the encounter, PO2 Jerry Kayob, PO3 Noel Golocan, PO2 Noble Kiangan and P01 Angel Kodiamat, also came from the same region.
Tabdi’s group had earlier fought and acquitted itself well in the siege of Zamboanga under a normal chain of command.
Then there was this account of a police officer from Natonin, Mt. Province, PCI Arnold Ongachen, who along with two of his men (his station had only three long arms) fought an estimated 50 NPAs who attacked the police station of Gov. Generoso in Davao Oriental on May 30, 2016.
It was only when he ran out of bullets that the police chief surrendered but was eventually freed. The charges for gross neglect against him subsequently were also dropped.
