GONE TOO SOON. Honor guards carry the casket of one of the 19 soldiers ambushed in Basilan province on Tuesday by the MILF at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City upon arrival from Zamboanga City on Friday night. The ages of the fallen soldiers are mostly in their 20s; the oldest, 33. RICHARD REYES
These young soldiers knew that life in the Army would be fraught with danger and the likelihood of early death. But much to the regret of their families, death came too soon.
In a solemn and emotional ceremony, 15 of the 19 soldiers killed in the fierce clash with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) renegades in Al Barka, Basilan, on Tuesday received full military honors as heroes on Friday at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.
The caskets were then loaded into hearses that took them to the chapels at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, where other family members and friends waited.
They spoke of their deep loss, of broken dreams, and of promises that could no longer be kept.
“He had a simple dream—to see our two daughters finish college,” Ginalyn Cabucana said of her husband, Cpl. Roderick S. Cabucana, 33. “Now, just like that, his dream is gone.”
Cabucana was among the six soldiers taken hostage by the MILF fighters. Their bodies were found hours later.
Ginalyn, 30, said she had always told her husband to take care of himself, to never forget he had a wife and two children (aged 9 months old and three years old).
“He knew he might die any time and he always tried to prepare us,” she said. “But I would just ask him, What will happen to our home when the pillar is gone?”
Heroes
Lt. Col. Orlando Edralin, Special Forces Training Corps commandant, said he was still trying to figure out what had happened to his colleagues and students.
He said what was certain for now was that they were heroes for fighting the enemies of the state.
For those who survived the carnage in Al-Barka, the real heroes were those who offered their lives so that the others would live.
Among them were 2nd Lt. Jose Delfin E. Khe, 27, and Pfc. Robert Ricafranca, who decided to face the rebels so their colleagues could safely withdraw.
Edralin confirmed that 91 new graduates of the Special Forces course had arrived in Zamboanga City and would soon be deployed to Basilan and Zamboanga Sibugay.
“Prior to their assignment here, they were briefed about what they should expect in the area,” Edralin said.
Ex-future senator
Kleng Estenor said she believed that Khe, her nephew, would have become a good senator someday had he not met his tragic 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 said.
“I knew he was serious [about his aspiration]. He never said anything about which he was not serious,” she said, describing him as “a good man and very hardworking.”
Khe’s younger brother,
2nd Lt. Erren Khe, 26, of Philippine Military Acadamy Batch 2009, said he was able to talk by phone to his brother a day before the encounter.
Erren said they talked about their future plans, including ways to improve their service in the military.
Erren also quoted Khe as saying that he would take a brief break from work to talk to their mother about his plan to marry his fiancee, Jane Frances Madarang, 24.
“They were planning to get married in December or early next year,” Erren said, adding that Khe’s death was the second tragedy to befall their family this year.
He said their father died just two months ago.
But Erren said what happened to his brother would not prevent him from accepting an assignment in Mindanao.
“[The risks] come with the job. That’s why it’s a very noble profession. If the command wants us to be there, we will obey,” he said.
‘A very sweet guy’
Madarang said she still could not believe that Khe, her boyfriend of two years and five months, was gone.
“We had so many plans. But now everything is gone in a snap,” she told the Inquirer.
Madarang said she and her fiance 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 had promised to make it up to her because he was not able to be with her on her birthday last month.
She said that he was “a very sweet guy,” and that she would miss him terribly.
“The last time we saw each other was in August, but not a day passed without us texting or calling each other on the phone,” Madarang said.
She said that on the day of his death, 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 was very sweet,” she said.
Madarang said they had been discussing wedding plans. She said she would forever treasure Khe’s PMA ring, which he gave her as an “engagement ring.”
Send-off rites
“He was always prepared to die. In the Army they were taught that they had one foot in the grave,” said Marichie Quiban, a cousin of Pfc. Mark Ted A. Quiban, a Kalinga native. “But this is too early. He’s still so young.”
Quiban, 24, who was in the service for only two years, had entertained dreams of a bright military career, recalled Marichie, a government employee.
He was so determined to be a soldier that he took the Army exams a second time after failing it on the first attempt. “We tried to convince him to try other things because we knew the risks. But he was firm,” she said.
A band played ceremonial music as the flag-draped caskets of the slain Army men, mostly in their early to mid-20s, were carried onto the Libingan grounds under the evening sky.
Earlier at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, family members wept as the caskets were unloaded from the cargo plane and blessed by a priest one by one.
Earlier in the day in Zamboanga City, the scorching heat and the strong stench from the sealed and flag-draped caskets did not deter soldiers, officers, retired generals and family members from converging at planeside for the funeral honors.
Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Cayton, a former brigade commander in Zamboanga Sibugay, was seen taking a video of the rites using his mobile phone.
“I am here to show my sympathy to the Khe family,” Cayton later said, adding that he and Khe hailed from the same place, and that he also graduated from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños.
Even his poor health did not prevent former Mindanao military commander Delfin Castro from attending the ceremony.
Leaning on a cane, Castro stood for more than an hour as he watched the coffins being loaded into the plane.
“I just wanted to be part of the send-off rites,” he said.
Maj. Zandro Alvez, the scuba-diving teacher of many of the fallen soldiers, watched from a distance but failed to conceal his emotion.
“They were my students in two diving classes. We belong to one Special Forces community, and I feel very sad,” Alvez told the Inquirer.
Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command, said the presence of retired military personnel and officers in send-off ceremonies like yesterday’s was not unusual.
“Even the retirees are still part of the Armed Forces, because most of their lives were spent in the AFP and it’s their way of expressing solidarity,” he said.
At around 12:30 p.m., the C-130 flew to Davao City, where the bodies of four of the soldiers were collected by their families.
Lt. Frank Junder Caminos’ body was brought to Cagayan de Oro City. Pfc Ervin Dequito’s body will be transported to North Cotabato, Private Gerry Colonia’s to South Cotabato, and Sgt. Bonifacio Mabalot’s to Tagum City.
The rest were flown to Villamor Air Base. With a report from Dennis Santos, Inquirer Mindanao
Roll of honor
1st Lt. Colt G. Alsiyao
1st Lt. Frank Junder P. Caminos
1st Lt. Vladimir A. Maninang
2nd Lt. Jose Delfin E. Khe
Sgt. Ronald G. Sta Rita
Sgt. Bonifacio R. Mabalot
Cpl. Roderick S. Cabucana
Pfc. Mark Ted A. Quiban
Pfc. Reny Y. Arciaga
Pfc. Romel L. Ondovilla
Pfc. Roberto M. Recafranka
Pfc. Jones S. Regor
Pfc. Jobert D. Miguel
Pfc. Jordan D. Olivar
Pfc.Emerson C. Tugas
Pfc. Ervin D. Dequito
Pfc. Jordan M. Magno
Pfc. Dennis R. Bolan
Pvt. Garry G. Colonia