Army men light candles for comrades

SOLDIERS and civilians light candles with prayers to remember the fallen soldiers in the Zamboanga City siege as part of the AFP’s commemoration of National Peace Consciousness Month and International Day of Peace in Pili, Camarines Sur. COURTESY OF ARMY’S 9TH INFANTRY DIVISION-PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE

Flickering candlelights deflected the darkness and gloom as Army soldiers mourned on Saturday night the deaths of their comrades, including two from Bicol, who were sent to Zamboanga City at the height of the Moro National Liberation Front siege.

The “Candle-Lighting for Peace” in Pili, Camarines Sur, attended by soldiers and officers of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division, heads of local governments, students and other stakeholders, was part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ nationwide commemoration of National Peace Consciousness Month.

Held at St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish in Barangay San Jose, the event was also a belated celebration of International Day of Peace on Sept. 21 by the United Nations General Assembly, according to Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, commander of the AFP’s 7th Relations Group based in Camp Aguinaldo, the military’s general headquarters, in Quezon City.

Capt. Mardjorie Paimela Panesa, 9th ID public affairs officer, said their fallen comrades were sent to Zamboanga to help put down the siege. Among them were S/Sgt. Josefino B. Sevilla, a native of San Pascual, Masbate; and Cpl. Jesichris N. Reyeg, of Oas, Albay, who were both members of the 3rd Light Reaction Company.

Panesa said the participants of the candlelight ceremony also prayed for the end of unrest in Zamboanga.

Reyeg’s remains were returned to his family on Sept. 27 to a hero’s welcome in Legazpi City. Panesa said Sevilla’s body arrived at the Naga airport on Sept. 13.

Sevilla died in Barangay (village) Santa Barbara in Zamboanga City, while Reyeg was killed in Barangay Santa Catalina on separate dates, Maj. Angelo Guzman, AFP deputy public affairs officer, said in a phone interview on Saturday.

Guzman said eight members of the 9th Infantry Battalion under the 9th ID were wounded during the siege.

He identified them as Corporals Henry L. Maisog, Michael N. Llamado,  Michael Una and Dante B. Collantes, and Privates First Class Bryan G. Gracilla, Silvestre D. Lumame Jr., Jelson D. Soltes and Gerson S. Selgas.

Cabunoc said the event was celebrated simultaneously by AFP units all over the country to refocus the consciousness of Filipinos on the true meaning of peace and how its attainment should be a shared responsibility of everyone.