Bolanon soldier killed in Marawi
was worried of mother’s health
By LIGALIG MIKE ORTEGA
The last time Corporal John Garcia updated his Facebook profile was on May 15, 2017, or eight days before the ISIS-backed Maute group militants attacked Marawi and placed the city in ruins.
In his FB profile photo, Garcia was sporting a soldier's uniform belonging to the Philippine Marine Corps. A handheld radio gadget was safely tucked on his jacket, just below on his left shoulder.
Garcia did not indicate where his location was, but he was in full battle gear.
After the May 15 profile update, Garcia did not post anything on his Facebook account (Jhon Garcia), an unusual shift of online behavior for a social media-savvy radioman for a team of Philippine Marines.
On June 9, 2017 (or last Friday), his profile was flooded with words of grief from loved ones and friends.
They could not believe that that the 29-year-old soldier, who graduated from the Bohol Island State University (BISU) and finished secondary education at Mahayag National High School in San Miguel town, had gone too soon.
On Friday, Garcia, a native of San Miguel town, Bohol, paid the ultimate sacrifice for the country, in the fight against terrorism.
He was one of the 13 government troops from the Philippine Marines who perished during a 14-hour close quarter combat in Marawi City.
Fourteen other marines were wounded in the fierce gun battle that sent a clear message to Pres. Duterte that the war in Marawi City is far from over, and that the enemies of the government are not showing any semblance of weakness.
The death of Corporal Garcia brought the total number of government casualties to 58, with more than a hundred government troops wounded or declared “missing in action.”
Grief-stricken, John's younger brother, Bryan, yesterday changed his Facebook profile image, using the picture of Corporal John Garcia, now hailed as one of the heroes of Marawi.
In the picture of his fallen brother, Bryan wrote a caption: "Call of Duty - There's A Soldier In All of Us."
Unable to express his pain, Bryan scattered a lot of weeping emoticons in between phrases, and wrote these words: "dawaton nalang hooo! Paita oy! Unsaon man mao may kapalaran nimo kuya...wanaj ud mi mabuhat be strong nalang mi. Pero sakit jud kaau oy..."
When John was about to be deployed to Marawi as part of the re-enforcement troops battling ISIS militants, the young soldier decided not to tell his mother about his new assignment.
A screenshot of an FB messenger chat with an Ate showed John’s tender heart for his ailing mother: "Oo te salamat kaau te wla naq magkontak nila mama kai basin musamot iya sakit te."
It appeared that John was referring to his deployment to the embattled city of Marawi.
Then came the answer of the one he called Ate:
saktolang dong
importante presence of mind ha
motawag ko karon sa tugas
magpadagkot ko sa kapilya
mangamuyo
daghan pa diay na sila dong?
John’s reply was full of gratitude as expressed in these words: "slamat kaau te dako kau ng tbang naq inyo pagampo pra hatagan q ugl akas ng loob ni Lord te salamat kaau."
The brave young man only asked for strength and courage, not even protection, to fulfill his duty for the Filipino nation.
Friday’s fierce firefight came as a surprise to the military who had believed that armed militants were weakening after an 18-day war.
Ironically, the government on Friday suffered the largest number of casualty in a single day of firefight.
Earlier, 11 soldiers were killed and several other troops were wounded when a wayward bomb dropped by a jetfighter hit the soldiers’ location pointblank.
One of the casualties in last Friday’s 14-hour never-say-die gun battle was John’s senior officer, 1st Lt. Frederick Savellano, the company commander of the team that recovered the P52 million cash from a building which was used as a sniper’s lair in the besieged city of Marawi.
Aside from the P52 million cash, Savellano’s team also recovered checks worth P27 million.
In a press briefing, military spokesperson, Lt. Col. Jo-ar Herrera,told media: "Ang goal talaga ng Marines is to facilitate the rescue of hostages that were held in that area," Herrera said, "So while they were conducting combat-clearing operations, ang ginawa ng local terrorist group ay naglagaysila ng IED (improvised explosive device), naglagaysila ng B40 and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) in the area."
Herrera revealed that last Friday’s firefight was the most intense so far since Marawi was attacked on May 23, 2017 by the ISIS-funded Mauteterror group.
The military said the number of armed militants fighting against government troops was reportedly increasing.
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