A resident of Brgy. Pinaguinpinan, Kabankalan City, was one of the 14 Marines killed and beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf bandit group in Tipo-Tipo town of Basilan on July 10.

The remains of Marine Cpl. Emelio Lachica Jr. of Kabankalan, PFC Freddie Palma of Pavia, Iloilo and 12 others arrived in Manila on Saturday, and were accorded full military honors by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga, Marine commandant, yesterday said Lachica and 13 other Marines who were searching for kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, were conferred posthumous promotions.

Allaga, in his message transmitted to the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, extended his sympathy to the family of Lachica in Kabankalan City.

In year 2000, seven members of the the 32nd Special Forces Company who used to be assigned in northern Negros, were also beheaded after they were ambushed by Abu Sayyaf bandits in Basilan, military records show.

The military said they are closing in on Islamic extremists who ambushed and killed the 14 Marines.

President Arroyo said in a statement from Malacañang, "We will run after those who killed our marines, but we will not run away from the peace talks."

"We will not allow those who committed barbaric acts to hide under the negotiating table," she added.

The military accused the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic extremist group known to have ties with Al-Qaeda, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim separatist guerrilla group, of joining forces to launch the July 10 attack.*GPB

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