Bodies of 2 Army soldiers slain in Jolo blast flown home to Tuguegarao City

The bodies of Staff Sergeants Louie Cuarteros and Manuelito Oria are given arrival honors in Tuguegarao City Airport as they were flown back home on Wednesday. The two were among the soldiers killed in a bombing in Jolo, Sulu on Monday. (Photo courtesy of 17th Infantry Battalion)

TUGUEGARAO CITY –– The remains of two Army soldiers killed in a blast in Jolo, Sulu arrived here on Wednesday morning in flag-draped caskets via a C-130 plane.

Army Maj. Noriel Tayaban, 5th Infantry Division spokesperson, said Staff Sergeants Louie Cuarteros of Barangay Cataggaman Nuevo here and Manuelito Oria of Tabuk City, were given arrival honors.

The slain soldiers belonged to the 21st Infantry Battalion assigned in Jolo, Sulu.

“[They] died giving their last breath in serving the people and securing the land. May their souls rest in peace. Let us honor their heroism … and continuously pray for the many soldiers defending this country,” Tayaban said.

The soldiers’ bodies were immediately brought to their families in this city and Tabuk City respectively, he added.

Cuarteros’s widow Carolyn said she was shocked to learn that her husband was among those killed in the blast.

She appealed to authorities to allow her to hold a three-day wake for her husband, while the city would only allow two days because of the modified enhanced community quarantine.

She called for “swift justice” and abhorred the “dastardly act of the bandits.”

LZB