Remains of 4 Pinoys killed in Haiti quake due today

MANILA, Philippines - The remains of the four Filipinos who died in an earthquake in Haiti is scheduled to arrive today and will be given a hero’s welcome by the country’s security forces.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the bodies of Air Force Sgt. Janice Arocena, Data Processor 3 Pearly Panangui, Army Sgt. Eustacio Bermudez and United Nations peacekeeper Jerome Yap are expected to arrive from Los Angeles at 5:50 a.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2. They will then be brought to the Villamor Airbase for a hero’s welcome.

Brawner said they have already received the air waybill for Yap and Arocena but not for Panangui and Bermudez. “But we are still hoping they will be arriving together as a group,” he said.

The AFP spokesman said the hero’s welcome will be a short ceremony wherein the peacekeepers’ remains will be saluted by the major service commands. A band is also expected to participate in the event. He said they have no information yet on the prominent personalities who will attend the ceremonies.

After the event, Brawner said the remains of Arocena and Panangui, will be escorted to the St. Ignatius Cathedral in Camp Aguinaldo. The bodies of Bermudez and Yap, meanwhile, will be escorted to San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija and Pampanga, respectively, as requested by their families.

“They (Arocena and Panangui) will stay here (in Camp Aguinaldo) for one day before they will be turned over to their respective families. But of course the families have the prerogative if they want to bring home the remains after the honors in Villamor,” Brawner said.

“The honors to be given to the peacekeepers will not be uniform. For example, the Army wanted to give honors to Sgt. Bermudez in Fort Bonifacio but since the family wanted to bring him immediately to San Leonardo, the Army will be the one to go there (to give the honors).”

Brawner said Arocena and Panangui will be interred in the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig while Bermudez and Yap will be buried in their respective hometowns. The dates of their interments have yet to be set.

The four peacekeepers were among the thousands of people who died in Haiti after an intensity 7.0 earthquake devastated the Caribbean country. The earthquake, said to be the worst in two centuries, has affected the lives of around three million people, including more than 200 overseas Filipino workers.

The Philippine government said two more Filipinos – Grace Fabian and Geraldine Lalican – remain missing. The two were trapped in a supermarket that collapsed in Port-au-Prince. – Alexis Romero, Ding Cervantes