Cpl. Elmer Anno, Sgt. Marlon Baldovino, and Cpl. Benito Serrano. the 3 LRR operators who sacrificed their lives during the start of Marawi Siege during an attempt to kill or capture IS leader Isnilon Hapilon in an operation codenamed "Oplan Bingo"
Cpl. Elmer Anno
Sgt. Marlon Baldovino
Cpl. Benito Serrano
Oplan bingo was a botched operation by the philippine government to kill or capture Abu Sayyaf leader and Emir of IS East Asia, Isnilon Hapilon. It was a very hasty operation due to the urgency of the matter and had only 6 hours of preperation (from 8AM to the start of the operation at 2PM), Callsign Azaela, the leader of the 4th LRC (the company the 3 men were under) was tasked with the operation by Major General Rolando Joselito Bautista. the 4th Light Reaction Company, an unknown unit of NAVSOG (probably NAVSOU-8 the filipino equivalent of DEVGRU), Several companies from the Scout Ranger Regiment, The 1st infantry division, and 2 M113 APCs. It was a simple Kill mission with little to no casualties expected.
The operation started at 2:18PM with a heavily armed 4 man stack breaching the gate with a water impulse charge, the stack was lead by Baldovino who was then followed by a veteran assaulter only known as Alamos and followed by the other 2, they entered through the unlocked main door before been fired at with an M16A1 wounding several of them, they were then attacked by a belt fed machine gun before an IED was detonated. Baldovino and Serrano were killed on the spot while Anno was carried out by Alamos and sent for medical care.
At about 4PM enemy snipers emerged from their hides and started attacking the government troops and an M113s turret was damaged by heavy fire.
At about 5PM 8 bodies were extracted from the area, they could not extract the bodies of Baldovino and Serrano. Azaela called for another APC to help but the request was denied because the APCs were being engaged by enemy elements.
Filipino Intelligence had failed to take account for the possibility of other enemy elements in the area, let alone that the entire city was crawling with insurgents preparing to attack after Ramadan. The raid prompted IS to launch their terrorist attack on the city much earlier, thus the start of the 2017 Marawi Siege.