One of the Army officers killed in the clash with Moro rebels on Tuesday in Al-Barka, Basilan, had called his parents in Isabela province last week to ask them to accompany him to Pampanga province and arrange his engagement to his girlfriend.
It was this pamanhikan (traditional engagement ceremony) which burdened Wilfredo and Natividad Maninang, as they waited for their son’s body to arrive at the family house in Nagassican village in Santiago City on Thursday.
First Lieutenant Vladimir Maninang, 27, was a member of the Philippine Military Academy Maragtas Class of 2007, and had served the military for four years.
Wilfredo, 53, said his son had been “kind and helpful” to his brother, Leonard, a student of veterinary medicine, and sister, Princess Joy, a business management student.
“He had helped us a lot as we are only poor, tending to a farm and raising pigs in our backyard. It hurts that he is no longer alive for us to embrace,” Maninang’s father said.
Wilfredo said he accepted the dangers of his son’s chosen career but regretted that he would die young.
“He should have lived longer,” he said.
Maninang was a consistent honor student in elementary and high school. “These photographs and medals are all we have of Vladimir,” said his mother, Natividad, 54.