For the mothers of soldiers, there’s nothing worse than receiving news from the military that their son had died. For Mila Falcasantos however, the news came directly as a message from her son’s cellphone.
Upon hearing that 15 soldiers were killed in a shootout in with the Abu Sayyaf, a local terrorist group in the Philippines, Mila immediately texted her son to ask how he was doing; she sent the text at 6:40 PM last Monday. At around 6:44 AM on Tuesday, she received a reply.
The text message said: “Your son is dead, he has no head; we beheaded him yesterday.”
She then replied: “You have no conscience.”
Photo from: JULIE ALIPALA-INOT/INQUIRER MINDANAO
To which she received another reply, saying: “Indeed. We have no qualms since they were the ones who came here. I will cut off your head too.”
Mila then contacted a relative of hers, a military officer located in Jolo, and he confirmed that her son was indeed killed in the shootout, and that he had been beheaded. Mila said that she understands the risks involved when her son decided to become a soldier, but she did not expect him to die that way.
The deaths of the 15 soldiers including her son, happened during the wake of a military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf after the terrorist group ignored please from the Philippine President to release the hostages that they have kidnapped.
At least 16 foreign hostages and five Filipinos are held captive by the Abu Sayyaf.
Our hearts go out to Mila in her time of sorrow.
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