NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — North Cotabato provincial officials honored one of the soldiers killed in last week’s bombings in Jolo, Sulu with a visit to his wake in Mlang town Sunday.
Relatives of Private 1st Class James Soriaga Apolinario, one of the Army servicemen killed in one of the two explosions that rocked Jolo last week, told reporters they were elated with the visit of Gov. Nancy Catamco to personally condole with the Apolinario family.
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Apolinario, who belonged to the 21st Infantry Battalion, was born and raised in Barangay Magallion in Mlang, North Cotabato.
Brig. Gen. Roberto Capulong of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, North Cotabato Rep. Jose Tejada and Mlang Mayor Russel Abonado accompanied Catamco to the ancestral home of the Apolinarios in Barangay Magallion.
Apolinario’s body was mangled in one of the two explosions that ripped through a commercial area in Barangay Walled City in Jolo, successive bomb attacks that the military blamed on the Abu Sayyaf terror group that operates in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
The bombings left at least 15 people dead, among them soldiers and police personnel, and injured 78 others.
Apolinario’s parents, Edwin and Tessie, said they are thankful to Catamco for extending assistance for the burial of their son.