Busto: Dying younghttp://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2008/...to.choices.htmlBy Li-an de la Cruz-Busto
Choices
MY GOOD friend Joselle texted me Wednesday last week that the topnotcher of the Philippine Military Academy Class 1999, Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade Arlene de la Cruz was killed in a vehicular accident in Mariveles, Bataan the night before. I asked her if she had verified it because I have not read about it even if I regularly check on news online. I also could not believe it as there were no flash reports or conversations about it considering that it happened more than 24 hours already. Of course, as human beings we are not immortals. But I had to nudge Joselle a couple of times before I was able to finally confirm it myself.
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These are the times that writing about this subject does not come easy for anyone. While I do not personally know Lieutenant de la Cruz, I had read how she made history by becoming the first female topnotcher of the PMA since women were admitted to the academy in 1993. And that lone and remarkable achievement alone was a big deal and with that, her future would have been indeed bright and rosy for her.
She could have been the first female Philippine Navy's Flag Officer In Command (FOIC) or the Philippines Armed Forces' Chief of Staff in the future but such would never become a reality in the future anymore. She was very young and gone too soon... the same line I used when I wrote about my female classmate at the flying school who died at the age of 27 in a plane crash in Mabalacat, Pampanga.
Like Lt. de la Cruz, my classmate was also an achiever and also acknowledged in the AFP as well as the Philippine Air Force (PAF) history, being one of the first two female OV-10A Bronco plane pilots of the PAF who also flew aggressively over Mindanao for combat missions when the AFP was still in the thick of its operations against enemies of the state down south.
And like her exploits in Mindanao, my classmate lived up to and remained true to all the awards she got for heroism and gallantry in action when she launched her attacks against bandits and secessionist rebels in Mindanao.
She died a hero to all of us who knew her because in her death, several lives were saved and that was the reason I called her Amazing Grace not only because of her flying skills but also for her guts. She went down with the plane she piloted when she could have done so many things to save her life.
She chose to maneuver the plane away from many people who lived in a populated subdivision in Mabalacat, Pampanga. I knew my classmate could not have lived with that fact had she decided to do otherwise.
My classmate would have been a promising military officer if she was alive today as she was very clear cut and focused with what she wanted her career and life to be. She wanted to become a ranking officer in the Armed Forces and wanted to be a prolific pilot who would fly each of the Air Force's aircraft inventory.
I knew she would have also make a tough officer because she had a heart of stone if needed. But she was a regular girl who loved and was also loved whether platonically or romantically. In fact, she was already planning her wedding with the scribbled notes of would be bridal entourage that were found under her pillow the day she died.
And like any other obedient child that my classmate was, being the eldest child in their brood, she also dreamed big for her family back in Bacolod for whom she wanted to build a big house, provide them with their own business to successfully work on as well as buy them a brand new vehicle.
I know there will always be so many questions among classmates, friends and family as to why our loved ones had to go so soon but we do not hold the answers to these questions.
But as I had also written in my tribute to my classmate seven years ago, we cannot ask God why people who are young and promising die young. We can only thank Him for sending them to us and learning from them, even for just a brief period of time.