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Grieving girlfriend woes ill-equipped soldiers

By Jhunnex Napallacan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:30:00 08/17/2009


CEBU CITY -- While the government assistance to the families of the 23 slain soldiers was welcome, the live-in partner of Private First Class Elfie Igcalinos, one of those who died in last Wednesday’s Basilan clash, said it would have been better if the soldiers were better equipped to fight the Abu Sayyaf.

Grace Bacalla, 24, said on Monday that her live-in partner, a dedicated soldier, deserved the honors given him but she could not help but think that money spent on the expensive dinners of the President and her party in the US could have been better spent for the fighting troops in Mindanao.

"They (the soldiers) are our defenders. We should give them importance. It appeared like they were just the bait and if they die, the assistance was used only to appease the family," said Bacalla.

While the honors seemed nice to have, these were not enough to compensate for their loss, she added.

"We were escorted to Bohol (Igcalinos' home town in Lila, Bohol) but it no longer mattered for us because he was dead. I am happy for him (Igcalinos) because he really wanted to become a soldier. But for me, it is so painful, especially because he left behind a child," Bacalla lamented.

She called on the government to improve the fighting equipment of the soldiers in destroying the Abu Sayyaf.
Bacalla said that Igcalinos' family, who has been living in poverty, needed the financial assistance.
However, of the initial P50,000 in cash assistance announced for each family, the Igcalinos received only P30,500 after the cost of his coffin was subtracted.

Bacalla said they were still awaiting the additional P250,000 cash assistance promised by the government.
She said they would need the money to pay for the costs of the wake, where many attended, including the soldiers who have been standing guard until Igcalinos’ burial on Sunday.

Igcalinos' mother Lucia said she had accepted her son's death since it was her son's choice to become a soldier. Nevertheless, she wanted the government to run after the Abu Sayyaf for the brutal murder of her son.

Lucia said the right eye of her son had a contusion and her son's body bore hack wounds.

"We ask for justice. The Abu Sayyaf should be wiped out so the Philippines will no longer have a problem. They hacked my dead son and pounded his eye," Lucia said, citing the cruelties inflicted on her son.

Igcalinos, 26, a father of a five-year-old boy and a criminology student for only a year, was a security guard for five years, before becoming a soldier.

He fulfilled his childhood ambition to become a soldier when he joined the Armed Forces of the Philippines two years ago.

Bacalla said they have been living together for several years and Igcalinos had promised they would get married in 2010.

She added that Igcalinos also wanted to pay off the debts of his parents in Bohol who pawned their land when his mother suffered stroke.

Igcalinos was the eldest of five siblings and both his parents, Pedro and Lucia, were sickly, Bacalla said.
Igcalinos' body arrived in his hometown at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

He was one of the three soldiers who were flown to Mactan Airbase on Sunday on board a C130 plane.
The two others were Private First Class Lemuel dela Cruz of Daan Bantayan Cebu and Pfc. Redentor Batoctoy from Dalaguete, Cebu.


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