Cedrick Garin, Filipino-Israeli IDF reservist killed in Gaza, laid to rest in Tel Aviv
Hundreds turn out in rain to pay respects to Givati warrior slain in building blast: ‘You weren’t afraid for a minute, you didn’t think twice — and where are you now, my darling?’
Sgt. First Class (res.) Cedrick Garin, 23, from Tel Aviv by way of the Philippines, was laid to rest on Thursday in Tel Aviv’s Givat Shaul military cemetery.
He was among the 21 soldiers killed in Gaza on Monday when his team came under RPG attack, triggering a blast that collapsed two buildings with soldiers inside. It was the single deadliest incident for IDF troops since the Gaza ground operation began.
Garin is survived by his mother Imelda, father Rico and wife Daniela.
Born in Israel to Filipino parents, Garin was raised by a single mother, who worked as a cleaner while raising her son in a foreign country. His father was deported by Israel when Garin was two years old. Rico returned to Israel 22 years after his deportation to pay his final respects to his son.
“What a warrior,” his wife Daniela said tearfully at his funeral in Tel Aviv on Thursday. “You weren’t afraid for a minute, you didn’t think twice — and where are you now, my darling? Where are you now, my handsome?”
During his last year of high school, Garin dropped out and got in trouble with the law, before later turning his life around and fighting to enlist in the IDF and serve his adopted country. After pleading with officials to draft him, he ultimately became a soldier in the Givati Brigade. Toward the end of his service in 2021, he earned a certificate of distinction from the head of the IDF’s Southern Command for his service; he received citizenship following the completion of his army service.
Speaking at the funeral, Garin’s 11th-grade teacher, Omri Gur, addressed the fact that the media was portraying his former student as a reformed criminal, asking people to change their perception of him.
“In 12th grade, you lost your way,” Gur said. But, he noted, Garin was determined to use his military service as a lifeline: “Your story is not one of a young criminal who changed for the better,” his teacher said. “It is a story of an outstanding young man, a wonderful young man, who made a mistake and fought to return to himself again… and I will not let anyone tell this story differently.”
His close friend Armias Geneo said that when they met in basic training, “Cedrick told me that they tried to put him in the military police. But it wasn’t enough for him — he wanted a more meaningful military service. He wanted to be a combat soldier! He stayed put and drove them crazy… and in the end, he got on the Givati bus.”
“He was a perfect fighter,” Geneo added. During their service, Garin stopped a terror attack in Hebron during a military operation there, shooting the would-be terrorist in the leg. “The reason he didn’t shoot the terrorist in the head,” said his friend, “is because there were civilians and children behind him.”
Garin was a loving son to his mother Imelda, his loved ones recounted. His ultimate goal was to be able to provide financially for her so that she could stop working, they noted, adding that he was happily married and was looking forward to one day becoming a father.
The funeral was marked by rituals from both Judaism and Christianity. Proceedings were officiated by personnel from the IDF Military Rabbinate, with Garin’s father-in-law, Yitzhak Ben-David, reciting kaddish, but also included two speeches from Christian clergy members representing the scandal-racked Phillipines-based Restorationist church called the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Garin hoped to pursue a career in security, he told the IDF website in 2021 after he received a certificate of distinction: “I discovered [during my IDF service] that I love it… Every time I am guarding… I feel like, ‘Wow, people can sleep in peace because of us. Because I am here.’ That’s what I want to do my whole life.”
Michael Bachner and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
