Last WW2 guerrilla survivor in Tarlac town dies of COVID-19

In this photo taken in 2017, World War II guerrillas Pablo Santos Jr. shows to Inquirer the roster of A and B Company of the Bamban Battalion Bruce Guerrilla South Military District that included his name. PHOTO BY MARIA ADELAIDA CALAYAG

BAMBAN, TARLAC—The last World War II guerrilla to remain alive in the town has died on Sunday (March 29) due to COVID-19, his family said.

Pablo Santos Jr., 93, was confined at the Intensive Care Unit of St. Raphael Foundation and Medical Center in Mabalacat town in Pampanga for five days before he died of the disease.

He was tested positive for COVID-19 a day before he died, according his daughter Evelyn Santos Cura.

Cura said her father had been in and out of hospital before his death. He suffered form emphysema, a lung infection that causes shortness of breath and one of the pre-existing conditions that experts said made one more vulnerable to COVID-19.

His doctors said he also suffered from internal organ failure.

“We did not want to hide this to make the people aware,” Cura told the Inquirere. “But we, the whole family is on home quarantine already,” she said in Filipino.

Before his death, Santos was considered as the only surviving World War II veteran under the Bruce Guerrilla movement, according to Bamban Museum Curator Rhonie Dela Cruz.

Santos’ remains were cremated in Tarlac City last Sunday (March 29) evening, Cura said.

Edited by TSB