Brigadier General Bagnus Gaerlan, assistant commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry “Tabak” Division. Photo from 1st Infantry “Tabak” Division
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 06 September) – Brigadier General Bagnus Gaerlan, assistant commander of the 1st Infantry “Tabak” Division (1st ID) of the Philippine Army based in Kota Sang-an, Pulacan, Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur, died of severe coronavirus disease (COVID 19) infection Monday morning.
A press statement from the 1st ID’s Public Affairs Office (DPAO) said that Dr. Anatalio E. Cagampang Jr., chief of the Zamboanga del Sur Medical Center (ZDSMC), pronounced Gaerlan dead at 5:19 a.m.
Captain Mary Jephte Mañebog, DPAO chief, said that Gaerlan was first tested positive of COVID-19 through an antigen test on September 2. He was confined the same day at the ZDSMC.
On September 3, he was tested positive of COVID-19 using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction or RT-PCR test, Mañebog added.
Gaerlan was the commanding officer of the 5th Infantry Battalion from September 1, 2010 to January 18, 2012.
He became the commander of the 102nd Infantry Brigade based in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, which covers Zamboanga Peninsula and Misamis Occidental, from June 29, 2018 to August 19, 2019.
Gaerlan, a native of San Juan, La Union, was installed as 1st ID deputy commander in August 2019.
Major General Gene Ponio, 1st ID commander and acting chief of the Western Mindanao Command, expressed the Army’s sympathies to the bereaved family of the late general.(Richel Umel / MindaNews)