IN modern war, death does not come from a battleship. It comes as a buzz in the sky. Like thousands of Filipino seafarers, he dreamed big: for himself, for his wife Glen Asis Pagunsan, and for his two little boys, aged 7 and 4.
Jude Gideon Francis Prado Pagunsan, 37, was a generous son and brother, a faithful husband, and a doting father to his two sons. That is how they best describe the AB seaman from Sitio Wayang, Brgy. Ubus, Valderrama, Antique.
He left Antique one summer day in April for another nine-month contract aboard M/V Venturo, a cargo vessel bound for Ukraine. Trolley behind him, high hopes ahead, he promised his wife: “Sa kontrata na to, sadyahun ta gid ang aton Paskwa!” He was set to come home in December 2026.
Jude, or “Oye” as family and friends fondly called him, was part of the Filipino crew aboard the bulk carrier M/V Venturo, sailing under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.
On July 17, 2026, while navigating the Black Sea off Ukraine, the vessel was struck by a drone — an attack that fatally hit him and injured several of his fellow Filipino seafarers.
The ship captain, according to a fellow Visayan crewmate, attempted to rescue him and dragged him inside the vessel’s clinic. There, in pain and half his body burning, Pagunsan requested that his fellow crew initiate a video call to his wife and two sons.
In his final moments, he told them he loved them.
He was killed by a sky that is now trained to hunt ships and hardworking husbands and fathers. And until his last breath, this AB seafarer was reaching out to his wife, his two little boys, and his only sister.
Forty-four days later, on Aug. 30, he finally docked at the Iloilo International Airport — not in his seafarer’s uniform, but inside a sealed casket tucked in a wooden box.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) in Manila honored him when his remains arrived in the Philippines on Aug. 28, 2026, after repatriation from Romania. Representatives from DMW, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Pandiman Phils., Inc. and Michaelmar Phils. Inc. received his casket and facilitated an orderly and dignified turnover.
The Philippine Embassy in Bucharest, Romania, in close coordination with the DMW, OWWA, and relevant maritime and manning partners, helped facilitate the repatriation. A Holy Mass was celebrated at the Loyola Memorial Chapels in Marikina, where Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac paid his last respects to the fallen seafarer. Family members in Quezon City attended the Mass while relatives in Antique joined online.
On Aug. 30, Jude’s remains were received at the Iloilo International Airport by regional representatives of the DMW and OWWA, the provincial government of Antique represented by Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member Karmila Rose Dimamay, representatives of LGU-Valderrama, and OWWA Antique staff.
That same day, the wooden box containing the sealed casket finally arrived home in Brgy. Ubus, Valderrama, Antique.
Interment was last Sunday, Sept. 6, at 3 p.m. after the Holy Mass at St. Luke’s Parish Church.
Jude’s last video call to his grieving family was met with financial assistance from the DMW and OWWA. Indeed, the father’s dream for his wife and two sons will be realized, not just this Christmas but until his two sons have the lives they deserve — the good life their father Jude dreamed for them.
He’s home, for good.
