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Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Families of C-130 crew mourn loss
By Allan I. Varquez
CEBU CITY -- Josrik Claur, three years old, held up a 12-inch plastic toy plane in front of seven caskets, the innocence of his act moving those who watched him inside the church at the Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base Monday.
When asked if he knew where his father was, Josrik replied, "naa diha, ay," pointing to the casket with the framed picture of his father, Staff Sergeant Patricio Claur, below it.
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Grieving families of seven of the nine crew members of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) C-130 transport plane that crashed last week at the Davao Gulf were at the air base for the arrival of the caskets.
The remains of Claur, 37, Captain Adrian de Dios, 31, Staff Sergeant Aldren Ilustrisimo, 34, Staff Sergeant Felix Pedro Pariaca, 43, Staff Sergeant Petronilo Fernandez, 41, Staff Sergeant Garry Denoso, 33, and TSgt. Constantino Enrique Lobrigas were not in the caskets, though.
The families were told these only contained recovered items that the servicemen last wore or took with them during the accident, and they were advised to open the caskets only when these are in their homes.
Teams conducting search and retrieval operations recovered body parts, identification cards and other items but have yet to find and retrieve the fuselage of the plane.
"Marami nang sundalong namamatay. Our Lord Jesus suffered and died and this is also the realty for soldiers," Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak said in his homily during the mass held at the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage church.
The caskets arrived aboard an F-27 Fokker plane from Villamor Air Base in Pasay City at 1:42 p.m.
Everybody was silent as the aircraft touched down on the tarmac.
Over 50 servicemen lined up in formation five meters from the Air Force Band for the "heroes welcome" for fallen comrades. Behind the band were the grieving family members.
The flag was flown at half mast and the band played a solemn tune as pall bearers carried the caskets one after the other out of the plane.
Bishop Tumulak blessed the caskets with holy water before these were taken to seven funeral cars lined at the tarmac.
"Actually this is not the first time we sent to families empty coffins or only clothes of fallen comrades," 1st Lieutenant Ramil Daet, assistant adjutant of MBEAB, said referring to another C-130 plane crash on December 15, 1993.
The plane was conducting relief operations in the typhoon-hit Camarines Sur when it crashed, killing all 30 people on board.
Most of the bodies were not recovered and the Air Force had to send coffins with only the personal items of the victims inside.
The caskets of the seven servicemen stayed at the Mactan air base church for a vigil last night.
The families can bring the respective caskets today for burial in their home province.
Claur will be brought by his wife Jocelyn to Davao City while de Dios will be flown to Catarman, Northern Samar.
Families of Ilustrisimo, Pariaca, Fernandez, Lobrigas, and Denoso have homes in Cebu.
Caskets of Major Manuel Zambrano, the pilot, and Staff Sergeant John Ariola were already flown by their families to their home province from Villamor Air Base.
Daet said DNA testing on the recovered body parts from the crash site is a long process and both Air force officials and the families of the victims have considered conducting it unnecessary.
Jocelyn Claur, who has been left to raise her three children including Josrik, said the casket only symbolized her husband's death.
Couple Roda and Carlito de Dios said at least they have what is left of their son, but they admitted they have yet to see the content of the casket.
Roda said they refused to have the casket of their son buried at the Libingan nang mga Bayani because they planned to have a landmark that they and other family members could visit.
De Dios was the third of six children and graduated from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in 1999.
Another son is still studying at the PMA. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (September 2, 2008 issue)
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