A senior military official serving as deputy commander of an Army division in Mindanao has died of Covid-19, one of his academy classmates revealed.
Brig. Gen. Bagnus Gaerlan succumbed to the dreaded virus on Monday, according Major Gen. Ernesto Torres Jr., commander of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.
“It is with deep sadness that we would like to inform the friends and relatives of our mistah, BGen Bagnus Gaerlan [of] PMA ‘89, that he succumbed to the deadly Covid virus early this morning,” Torres said.
Gaerlan was the assistant division commander of the famed 1st Infantry “Tabak” Division based in Zamboanga del Sur and was Torres’s classmate at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
“For those who wish to pay their last respects, details of interment will be posted as soon as obtained,” Torres, who is the Army chapter president of PMA Class of 1989, said. According to Torres, Gaerlan was the fourth member of the PMA Class of 1989 who died due to Covid-19 infection.
“Bagnus is the 4th member of the class to drop their working tools due to Covid,” he said, naming the three others as Jun Unson, Danny Olay and Allan Cordova.
The military, through its spokesman, Col. Ramon Zagala, said it has already recorded 17,133 Covid cases, and out of this number, 15,244 were recoveries.
Zagala said 35 personnel have also died.