Saturday, June 28, 2008 PRO 7 band loses one more member
MEMBERS of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 marching band are wondering if they will ever sound the same again.
After losing their clarinet player last May, they didn’t think another band member would encounter another tragic incident just a month after.
Tagged as “body A number 1,” SPO3 Adolfo Villareal was among the 49 fatalities transported to Cebu yesterday from the mv Princess of the Stars.
He was one of four policemen from Central Visayas who was declared missing after the vessel capsized last Sunday.
Neil Angelo Sanchez, operations chief of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), confirmed that Villareal was identified among the bodies being held at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Home.
“Among the belongings found on him was his PNP ID,” said Sanchez.
Villareal’s clothes remained intact and helped a sibling confirm that it was indeed his body.
“He may have been bloated, but every item recovered from the body proved that it was him. This is part of disaster victim identification; it is one way of identifying the victim,” said Sanchez.
Most of the band members have not yet recovered from the death of SPO4 Asterio Butron, who was shot dead after fighting off three robbers who tried to rob him inside his taxicab last May.
SPO1 Godofredo Arcilla Jr., the band conductor, told Sun.Star Cebu earlier this week that he shudders to think about the next month, wondering if it would mean losing another band member.
“Sakit kaayo kay paspas man gud unya trahedya puros. Kalit kayo (It’s tragic. It happened so fast),” he said.
Villareal would have replaced Butron as chief clerk of the PRO 7 band. Aside from playing the horn, he also played the trumpet and the drum.
Arcilla lamented that it was difficult to find good musicians like Villareal to fill in the gaps.
“There are many musicians out there, but they have to meet requirements to become police officers,” Arcilla explained.
He said that ideally, they should have 30 members to come up with quality sound.
Arcilla has submitted a request for an additional 16 personnel to be reassigned to the band, to bring back quality to the music.
Villareal was in Manila to work on his documents for his retirement before taking the ferry to Cebu. He would have turned 56 on July 22.
His wife Susan and two sons, a high school teenager and a fourth grade student, joined hundreds of relatives waiting for updates on the sinking. He hailed from Inayawan, Pardo, Cebu City.
To claim his remains, his family will have to submit his latest picture, dental or surgical records, a list of special body markings and either a copy of his NBI clearance, voter’s ID or any ID with a thumb mark.
Along with Villareal, four sea marshals were also declared missing: PO1 Ricardo Maramag, PO1 Gerardo Vallozo, PO2 Reynaldo Macaraeg, all from the Maritime Police Group, and SN1 Charlon Ramos of the Coast Guard. (MEA/EPB)
