Magpakailanman: Ephraim Mejia: Family man and one of the SAF 44

Before PO2 Ephraim Mejia became one of the Fallen 44, he was a family man who never wanted anything in the world but the happiness of his loved ones. He was also an eager policeman who surmounted challenges in his way in order to serve his country.

Mejia, fondly called "Buk" by his family, was the eldest of the three children of Warlito and Helen. His brother Marcos is a soldier, and his sister Ruth is a teacher. His family used to live in Pangasinan, but had to transfer to Zamboanga for their father's job.

When Mejia was in high school, his mother was diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease and had to be hospitalized for months.

Buk took charge of the household. He cooked food for his family, brought his siblings to school and lunch to his father's office, then went to school himself. After school, he would stay beside his mother's sickbed until his father arrived, at which point he would go home to take care of the house, cooking meals and washing the family's clothes.

His father eventually resigned from his job and the family went back to Pangasinan. There, Mejia graduated with a degree in Criminology and decided he wanted to become a police officer. But he wasn't accepted right away because he was only 5'3", an inch under the Philippine National Police's minimum height requirement.

This meant that he needed to get a height waiver, so he went back to Mindanao just to look for a signatory. But even after getting the waiver, he again needed to push back his dream since he didn't know he needed to take the remaining tests in Mindanao.

Instead, he got a job as a security guard until he could find another chance to resume his application to the PNP.

During his stint as a security guard, Mejia met a police officer who offered to help the aspirant process his papers at Camp Crame. Not long after, Mejia started his training at the PNP. He graduated in 2008.

After graduation, Mejia and his girlfriend Miya began to prepare for their wedding. But they could only get married in 2011, since Mejia had also started his training with the PNP-Special Action Force. He would later be assigned to Mindanao for five years.

A year after they got married, Miya told her husband that she was pregnant. This news only made the SAF trooper work harder for his family. After their daughter July was born, Buk and Miya had a serious discussion in which Mejia said he did not want their child to go into the police force, as being a cop was a hard job.

At home, Mejia continued his habit of taking care of his family, doing the cooking and cleaning and not letting his wife do much of the housework. He even once baked cupcakes for his neighbors. The couple had bought some land near Miya's family's home and had planned the construction of their house this year.

Just days before the operation, Mejia saw his name on the extraction list for Mamasapano, which he told Miya must be a delicate mission as he recognized some of the team members as those who had fought during the Zamboanga City siege. He did not want to leave his family, but he knew his duty.

Hours before the fighting started, Buk sent his mother one last text message: "Paalis na kami, ipanalangin ninyo ako."

Ephraim Mejia, 33, is survived by his wife Miya and their child July. A native of San Nicolas, Pangasinan, he finished his BS Criminology course at Pangasinan Colleges of Science and Technology. He had been active with the PNP since 2008.

His story is one of 44 that need to be told.

LOOK: Beyond the names and faces of the Fallen 44 — Trisha Macas/BM, GMA News

The full story of SAF trooper PO2 Mejia will be told on "Magpakailanman," airing on Saturdays.