One final ride for 1Lt. Sheena Alexandra Tato, a military flight nurse and one of the soldiers who died in the C-130 plane crash in Patikul, Sulu on July 4, 2021, as she was laid to rest Saturday noon at Forest Lake in Ma-a, Davao City.
Tato was sent to her final resting place with a 21-gun salute.
The burial was attended by Tato’s family, relatives, military officers and colleagues.
The remains of Tato arrived at the Davao Air Station, Headquarters Tactical Operations Wing Eastern Mindanao (TOWEASTMIN) on July 9 and was brought to their residence in Ecoland for her wake.
Tato was a nurse of the Philippine Air Force assigned at Air Force General Hospital, 520th Air Base Wing, Col. Jesus Villamor Air Base, Pasay City as Duty Nurse in-charge in Air Evacuation Section and was commissioned as an officer on December 1, 2015.
A total of 52 fatalities involved in the C-130H transport plane crash in Patikul, Sulu including 49 troops and three civilians. The plane was to transport troops to Jolo when it crashed.
President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed his sorrow to the tragic fate of the soldiers.
“Alam mo sa totoo lang noong ibinalita sa akin, as usual I go into a process of sorrow, more than anybody else o kasing pareho tayo. The life of a soldier is always valuable whether in the fields of fighting or events such as these. They died for our country and, for that, I am very grateful to those who died and those who suffered and are still suffering now. Gusto ko lang malaman ninyo that we will extend all help at ‘yong ibang medyo naano ‘yong extremities nila that we will — they will have the same prosthesis and all. But burn is a long process to heal,” he said in his message delivered at the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City on July 5, 2021.
