Deep-sea divers continue to search for an Army officer, reportedly a member of the Philippine Military Class of 1999 who was declared missing after he failed to surface during a “proficiency diving exercise” Saturday at a diving site in Island Garden City of Samal.
The Philippine Coast Guard has joined in the search together with the Naval Special Operations Unit.
In a report, Captain Roda Leoncito, public affairs officer of the Eastern Mindanao Command, confirmed the incident but did not identify the officer pending the search and information to his immediate family.
“At 8:30 a.m., we received report that one of the soldiers went missing during the conduct of the training. At the time being, we decided to not divulge yet the identity of the soldier to protect his family,” Leoncito was quoted as saying in said report.
But a source from the Philippine Army told The Standard that the officer was Lieutenant Colonel Hector Bongcawil, a member of the PMA “Masikhay” Class ’99.
Leoncito said a group of officers went diving with their commanding general, Eastmincom chief Lieutenant General Rey Guerrero, and arrived at the Angel’s Cove on Talikud Island, part of IGACOS, at around 7 a.m.
The divers were from Eastmincom and Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao, and NAVSOU.
Leoncito said Guerrero regularly brought divers to the place to train.
The Eastmincom is still investigating the cause of the soldier’s failure to surface.
In June 2013, the late Brigadier General Daniel Lucero, then commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, drowned in a diving activity at Tabak beach in Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur. He was a member of PMA “Matikas” Class ‘83.
