As the nation remembers its dead, one Negros Occidental family’s grief begins

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – The country prepares its candles and flowers for Undas (All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day), the annual ritual of remembrance that somehow softens death into tradition. But there is no comfort in the familiar yet for Racquel Gelacio and his wife Jessa.

The impoverished couple’s offering this weekend will be for their little boy they buried only on Friday, October 31 – showing that no feast of saints or souls can make sense of a bullet that found their child.

Six-year-old Jarel Gelacio was laid to rest Friday morning under a gray sky that matched the sorrow of Sitio Inangao, Barangay Quintin Remo, in Moises Padilla town, Negros Occidental. His parents said it felt wrong to keep the wake open as the country prepared for All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days.

“It didn’t feel right,” Racquel, the father, said quietly. “We wanted him to be at rest before Undas.”

Jarel, a 1st grader and the third of five children, was killed by a stray bullet on Tuesday, October 28. He was caught in the crossfires between government troops and suspected members of the New People’s Army in Sitio Matal-i in their barangay. The firefight lasted 10 minutes, enough time to end an innocent boy’s life and unravel a family’s peace.

The 40-year-old Racquel recalled that he and his children were about to flee his parents’ house when the gunbattle broke out.

“I told him to stay low. I went out first. Then I heard him (Jarel) say, ‘Pa!’ – that was the last,” he said.

The bullet struck Jarel in the head before he could reach the door.

Brigadier General Jason Jumawan, commander of the Army’s 302nd Infantry Brigade, said the military has opened an investigation into the incident.

Quoting initial reports, he said soldiers were responding to information about armed men in the village when they came under fire. The military said the ensuing exchange of gunfire lasted about 10 minutes.

Jumawan said it was too early to determine who was responsible for Jarel’s death. He said he was open to a ballistic test on the bullet that struck the child to determine whether it came from the Army or the NPA.

But lawyer Rey Gorgonio ofthe National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) in the Negros Island Region called the killing a grave violation of international humanitarian law, citing a provision in the Geneva Convention, which requires “constant care” to spare civilians during military operations.

Commission on Human Rights region head Vincent Parra said they would launch their own investigation to determine accountability.

Moises Padilla Mayor Ella Celestina Garcia-Yulo said she has grown weary of the repeated clashes between state forces and insurgents in her town.

“People are afraid again. We have lost enough,” Yulo said.

The local government and the office of Negros Occidental 5th District Representative Dino Yulo shouldered the funeral expenses. Kersey Sumadhay of the town’ssocial welfare office said they would continue to assist the poverty-stricken Gelacio family after the burial, especially Jarel’s two older brothers, aged 9 and 14, who witnessed what had happened.

On Saturday and Sunday, November 1-2, as the rest of the country flock to the cemeteries to remember and honor their departed, the Gelacio family will return to the small grave dug for their son. Jarel, the first member of the family to be buried there, will have prayers whispered through tears and the sound of his parents and siblings calling his name. – Rappler.com