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By Anthony Vargas Reporter
A MARINE trooper who was among
those killed in an ambush by Moro rebels and Islamic militants in
Basilan early last month had left three daughters to two different
women.
The late Marine Cpl. Russel
Panaga had not married any of the mothers of his three daughters and
had chosen to tie the knot with another woman.
Panaga is one of the 10 Marine
troopers beheaded by suspected Moro rebels and Islamic militants
following an ambush in Al-Barka town on July 10.
Now, the Armed Forces is facing a
different kind of dilemma as to who should receive the scholarship
grant to children of soldiers killed in action.
On Wednesday Panaga’s three
women, Marilou, Maridel and Theresa, met in Camp Aguinaldo where
scholarships grants were awarded to children of fallen soldiers.
Panaga has no children with
Marilou whom he married seven months ago while he has a 4-year-old
daughter with Theresa and two daughters with Maridel aged 4 and 3.
The two women, Maridel and
Theresa, told reporters that they only discovered that Panaga had
married another woman during his wake at the Marine headquarters in
Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, last month.
Marilou, on the other hand, said
that she knew that Panaga had children with other women even before
they were married early this year. The three said that they harbored
no ill feelings for each other.
Three women, along with
Panaga’s three daughters, sat and ate lunch in the same table,
during the awarding ceremony hosted by the military’s Educational
Benefit System Office (ESBO).
Unlike in the movies were women
would engage in hair-pulling incidents, the three women appeared
comfortable with each other and were even exchanging jokes at one
point.
The military deputy chief of
staff, Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog, who co-chairs the EBSO, said the
board would “study” whether or not Panaga’s children could
avail themselves of the scholarships.
When Panaga’s name was called
on the stage, it was Marilou who went up to accept the scholarship
grants for her husband’s children.
“Thank you for the scholarships
that you gave to my husband’s children,” a teary eyed Marilou
said in her speech when she accepted the certificate for
scholarships.
Maridel, who hails from Sorsogon,
said that her relationship with Panaga started in 1999. “That’s
the life he chose . . . it’s OK.”
Theresa, on the other hand, was
the first among the three women to find out that her husband died in
an ambush after his killer sent a message to her using her husband
cell phone. “Sorry . . . your husband is dead.”
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