MANILA, Philippines—He could have been another soldier-turned-senator.
Kleng Estenor believes her nephew, Second Lieutenant Jose Delfin Khe, would have become a good senator someday had he not met his untimely death on Tuesday.
“He was so young, so full of dreams and one of that was to become a senator. He kept on saying ‘Someday I will become like Senators Rodolfo Biazon and Antonio Trillanes IV’,” a teary-eyed Estenor narrated.
“I knew he was serious (about his aspiration to become a senator). Wala naman syang sinabi na hindi seryoso,” she added, describing him as a “good man and very hardworking.”
Khe, 27, was among the 19 members of the Army’s 4th Special Forces Battalion who were slain by alleged combined Abu Sayyaf-Moro Islamic Liberation Front members in Al-Barka town, Basilan on Tuesday.
On Friday afternoon, 15 of the 19 slain soldiers were given simple arrival honors at the Villamor Air Base.
According to officials of the Philippine Air Force, full military honors await their fallen comrades at the Fort Bonifacio.
The heroes from Mindanao arrived in uniform aluminum caskets draped with Philippine flags. They were flown to Manila by sundown, an Air Force C-130 as their airborne hearse.
They were met by their mourning relatives as their comrades honored each of them with a salute as they were unloaded from the cargo plane.
The remains of three of the casualties, namely, Sgt. Andy Bonifacio Mabalot, Pvt Garry Colonia and Pfc Ervin Dequito were flown to Davao City from Zamboanga, while the body of 1st Lt Frank Junder Caminos was taken to Cagayan de Oro City.
Khe’s younger brother, 2nd Lt Erren Khe, 26, of Philippine Military Academy Batch 2009, said he was able to talk to his brother over the phone before the encounter.
Erren said they talked about their future plans, including ways to improve their services in the military.
He said Khe also mentioned to him about his plan to take a brief break from his work to talk to their mother about his plan to marry his fiancée, Jane Frances Madarang, 24.
“They were planning to get married either in December or early next year,” Erren said, who added that Khe’s death was the second tragedy that befell their family this year.
Their father died just two months ago, Erren bared.
Erren said what happened to his brother would not prevent him from accepting assignment in Mindanao.
“(The risks) comes with the job, that’s why it’s a very noble profession. If the command wants us to be there, we will obey,” Erren added.
Meanwhile, Madarang said she still could not believe that Khe, her boyfriend of two years and five months, was already gone.
“We have so many plans. But now everything is gone in a snap,” she told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
She said they were supposed to meet next week after his training.
“Now we’re meeting but he’s already in a casket,” she said as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Madarang, a bank employee but a registered nurse by profession, said Khe promised to make it up to her because he was not able to be with her on her birthday last month.
She said she would terribly miss Khe, whom she described as “a very sweet guy.”
“The last time we saw each other was last August but not a day passed without us texting or calling each other on the phone,” she said.
On the day of the encounter, Madarang said she received a text message from Khe saying “I love you with all my heart.”
“But I did not take it as a premonition or anything because he was really like that. He’s very sweet,” she added.
She said they were already discussing wedding plans, adding that she would forever treasure Khe’s PMA ring given to her as an “engagement ring.”
Khe, like three of his slain colleagues, was a bemedalled junior officer.
He had been in the service for a little over a year after graduating from the Philippine Military Academy in 2010.
Khe established a war gaming club in the PMA. His friends and comrades are sending their tributes and condolences through the club’s online discussion forum.
“Reading those tributes make us all feel more proud of him,” said Estenor.