John Arcilla (L) and his father Dominador Alemania Arcilla. Images: Facebook/John Arcilla
John Arcilla revealed that his father, Dominador Alemania Arcilla, has passed away but clarified that the cause was not COVID-19.
The actor announced his family’s loss on his Facebook page yesterday, April 5, alongside photos of his family with his father. He also expressed his sadness over not being able to bury him amid the ongoing enhanced community quarantine.
“If not for the [quarantine] which I believe is necessary, and this painful circumstance which understandably need not to favor with our grieving family, I would not express anything about my [father’s] fate,” he said. “I do not feel good announcing the passing of someone very [dear] to me.”
“But the feeling of not seeing even his body for the last time while we’re just here [five] hours away from him, isn’t easy to handle,” Arcilla added.
The actor explained that his father’s body is in Baler, and the usual ceremonies and rituals such as a wake and mass cannot be done for him, in light of the quarantine measures.
“Our family wishes to [cremate] his body and pray together with his [urn] after this LOCKDOWN but we don’t have crematoriums in Baler and travel permits are complicated to process,” he said.
Arcilla also stated that the funeral services will not be able to send their father’s body to Cabanatuan or Manila, where he and other family members reside.
“They can get a travel permit from the origin, but their staff has to be quarantined for [two] weeks or more in their second destination, and has to settle another set of travel [permits],” Arcilla explained.
In light of the social distancing guidelines, the body of his father will remain in a funeral chapel for two days without a wake. It will then be buried with a limited audience the day after.
Arcilla and half of his siblings currently stay in Manila together with all of the grandchildren. While they may be able to get travel permits to Baler, he says that there is no guarantee if the checkpoints will allow them back in Manila after just two or three days.
“Most probably, they will send us back to Baler or we have to be quarantined for 14 days or so in Baler or in between towns,” Arcilla explained, also adding that he is not blaming anyone since he understands the situation.
“I just need to express something that is too [to] much bear,” Arcilla added while asking for prayers for his family and father. JB
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