By Froilan Gallardo
Special Correspondent
VILMA Monera wept as six military trucks bearing the white coffins rolled into the parking lot of the gym at the 4th Infantry Division headquarters here Wednesday.
Monera, who had three children, wept some more when a military aide gently took her hand and guided her to the coffin that bears his son, Army Private Vic Monera, 22, of Maramag, Bukidnon.
She broke into tears when she tried to open the casket but was refrained by the aide who told her she couldn’t open it.
Rachel Maestro, wife of Army Sgt. Butch Maestro of Balingoan, Misamis Oriental also wept when she was told she could not open his casket.
Maestro just held on to the Philippine flag that draped the casket of her husband.
Monera and Maestro are lucky that their son and husband came home in closed caskets.
Major Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., commander of the 4th Infantry Division said only 19 of the 52 confirmed dead in the C-130 plane crash in Sulu were identified through their dental records.
“Most were burned beyond recognition. That is the reason we have to seal the caskets,” Brawner said.
The 55-year-old Monera said she pleaded to her son not to join the Philippine Army.
“I wanted him to join the maritime fleet. He did not (listen),” Monera said.
Monera, a mother of three children said her son Vic was a graduate of Bachelor Science in Maritime Transportation and have plied the Cebu-Manila interisland route aboard a passenger ship.
Then came the Covid-19 pandemic and Monera said her son lost his job.
Monera said her son came home very dejected to their two-hectare farm in Maramag, Bukidnon.
“He said he wants to help us. He also wanted to marry her girlfriend,” she said.
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