ARMED Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, whose appointment was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments last Wednesday, September 4, was visibly moved and tried to hold back tears as his father, Brigadier General Teodulfo Bautista, was being praised by senators who are members of the Commission.
Manifesting support for the ad interim appointment of the AFP Chief of Staff, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile revealed during the CA’s plenary at the Session Hall of the Senate, that Brigadier General Teodulfo Bautista worked under him when he was a secretary of National Defense.
“It was a sad moment for the Armed Forces of the Philippines when we received news that General Teodulfo Bautista, along with several senior officers of his staff, even as they were unarmed in a meeting with the rebels who pretended to surrender or to give up their struggle in Sulu, was suddenly massacred,” recalled Enrile.
“It was a very gruesome event, because they were beheaded, treacherously hacked to death by the rebels of the secessionist group in Sulu.
(General Emmanuel Bautista’s) father gave up his life in the hope of having a peaceful settlement of the problem in his area of responsibility,” Enrile added.
The elder General Bautista, along with 33 officers and men, was slain by MNLF rebels in Patikul, Sulu on October 10, 1977.
The younger Bautista was then in his freshman year at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
Immediately after graduation, he requested to be assigned to Sulu but this was declined.
Throughout his military career, he has been assigned to various places in the country but never in Sulu.
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