Marine, cop slain in Zambo siege return home to P’sinan

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines – His dream to build a modest house for his family here and to marry his girlfriend ended with his death in the standoff between military and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) forces in Zamboanga City.

The body of Marine Pfc. Jeffrey Castillo, 24, arrived Monday night in his residence in Barangay Maniboc here.

Another Pangasinense, PO2 Christopher Hernaez, a member of the police Special Action Force who was also killed in the fighting, earlier had returned home in Barangay Bantog, San Quintin town.

Hernaez also had plans to marry his girlfriend in December.

Castillo’s last phone call to his mother, Virginia, 49, was on Sept. 13. As he usually did, he wanted to tell his family his daily activities and to check on them, too.

In that phone call, he asked his family to go to his girlfriend’s house the next day, talk to her family and set their wedding date in January next year, coinciding with the birthday of his fiancée’s mother.

But tragedy befell Castillo at dawn of Sept. 14. It was his uncle, Benjamin Sison, who got the bad news in a phone call. 

“He left us here a very strong person and he returned home already a cadaver,” Mrs. Castillo said, in bet-ween sobs.

Castillo last visited his hometown on July 15 to Aug. 7. He spent time with his girlfriend and other male friends. He was assigned in Misamis Oriental and was only deployed in Zamboanga City to help repulse the MNLF rebels loyal to Nur Misuari.

Castillo’s father, Savior, 53, a barangay councilman, said he hopes the hostilities in Zamboanga would end “so that there would be no more deaths to happen.”

“It’s difficult if we fight our own government and I hope those supporting the rebels would think about innocent people,” he added.

He described his son as a kind person who wanted to help his four siblings get a good education and who also dreamed of finishing the stalled construction of their modest house.

Castillo will be buried on Sept. 26 at the public cemetery here. Hernaez, meanwhile, will be honored in PNP burial rites in front of the San Quintin town hall tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the family of Army Cpl. Mark Himson Galema Caranzo, who was also killed in Zamboanga City, is awaiting the arrival of his remains in Burgos, Isabela tomorrow.

Caranzo, who left his wife Anna Lissa, 31, and a three-year-old son, was to turn 30 on Oct. 31. – With Raymund Catindig