A tale of two Marines who missed Father’s Day

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Corporal Jobert Cofino and 1st Lt. Raymond Abad. These are the names of two Philippine Marine members from this city who will miss today’s celebration of Father’s Day after they sacrificed their lives with dozens of other government troops in terrorist-occupied Marawi.

Cofino, a member of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 7 (MBLT 7), was supposed to celebrate his first Father’s Day with his 11-month-old son Peter John and 21-year-old wife Pronielyn.

On the other hand, Abad was supposed to have been reunited with his father, Anecito Abad, as early as Monday. It was supposed to have been a very happy week for Anecito as June 12 – six days before Father’s Day – was both his and his son’s birthday.

Cofino and Abad never came back to Zamboanga.

Cofino died on June 9 during a gun battle with members of the Maute, the ISIS-linked local terrorist group (LTG) that marched into Marawi last May 23.

“It is so painful that me and my son will celebrate Father’s Day without my husband,” said Pronielyn, a fourth year student of Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) taking up social work.

Last conversation At around 1 p.m. last June 8, Cofino called his spouse to assure her that he was OK.

“Don’t worry about me here, I am fine. Just pray for my safety while here fighting the Maute Group. Just take care of our son. I will just call you again,” Pronielyn recalled the Marine saying. Cofino never called again.

“He failed to call me. I tried to call him but his cellular phone was already out of coverage. I started to worry about his safety since he never put off his cellular phone,” she said.

Pronielyn’s worst fears were soon confirmed after she received a call from the Philippine Marine Corps in Manila. It turned out Cofino was among the 13 soldiers killed during an encounter with Maute.

The news crushed the young woman, who at 21 was already a widow.

Cofino will be laid to rest Tuesday, June 20 at the old San Roque Cemetery here, she said.

Cancelled celebration Abad is also scheduled to be interred on June 20, but at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani (LNMB) in Taguig City.

Anecito preferred to have his son buried in Zamboanga but ultimately gave way the wishes of his daughterin-law for her husband to be buried at the hallowed LNMB.

Abad was killed along with Cofino in that particular skirmish with Maute rebels.

Although the elder Abad was suddenly left with nothing to celebrate, he swelled with pride whenever he thinks of his son’s courage in defending the Marawi City from terrorists.

The remains of the other fallen soldiers were bought last June 12 to the Philippine Marine Corps Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig where they were welcomed by their families and President Rodrigo Duterte. They were accorded military honors.

How many more special occasions do these brave government servicemen need to miss in order to free Marawi from the clutches of terror?