'I hope the war in Mindanao will finally end'

BINMALEY, Pangasinan, Philippines – “I hope the war in Mindanao will finally end so no more lives will be sacrificed.” 

Thus said Loreto Estrada, 51, father of Marine Private First Class Jerwin Estrada, who was killed together with two US soldiers in a landmine explosion in Sulu last Sept. 28.

“Dapat nasumpal la tan ya gulo. Kaskasian iray military met ya ipupusta day bilay da (That war must already end. How pitiful military men are because their lives are at stake),” he said in the dialect. 

For Loreto and his other son, Jomar, 26, Jerwin was a hero who died serving his country.

Loreto said he initially opposed Jerwin’s desire to enter the military, but his son’s dream prevailed.

A day before his death, Jerwin phoned his father and assured him he was doing alright in Sulu.

It was Jomar who received the sad news in a phone call on Sept. 29 that Jerwin was killed in the landmine blast while escorting two US soldiers on board a US military vehicle on their way to Indanan, Sulu. Two other Filipino soldiers were wounded in the explosion.

Jerwin’s remains arrived here at around 11:30 p.m. last Saturday. He and the two slain US soldiers were given a memorial service by the US Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines at the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City earlier that day.