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Thursday, May 08, 2003
2 brods drown in sinkhole
By Rene H. Martel
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
TWO brothers, aged 11 and nine, died Tuesday afternoon after they drowned in a quarry sinkhole in the dried up portion of Sapangdaku River in Toledo City, Cebu.
Neighbors discovered the bodies of Samson Canonigo and his younger brother Samboy at the bottom of the hole, an hour and a half after they disappeared while taking a bath there.
Mayor Arlene Espinosa-Zambo promised to look into the incident to determine the liability of the owner, identified as Juana Sombilon.
Sombilon was supposed to put up a sign warning people that the area is a quarry site and dotted with several excavations.
Not autopsy
PO2 Thule Tajadlangit said the victims’ parents, Lucia and Samuel, did not want their children’s bodies autopsied. The couple is convinced that what happened to them was an accident.
Besides, Samuel was not keen on pursuing a criminal complaint because he is reportedly related to Sombilon and works for her.
Marianne Suico, community development assistant 1 of Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro), said they learned of the incident after their field officer called them yesterday.
She said the incident is worth looking into because the hole is reportedly so deep that those who dove to retrieve the children could barely reach the bottom.
Glenn Baricuatro, also of Penro, said the “permitee” should be made to answer for the incident.
“Whatever damage to life and property in the area, the one who should answer for it is the permitee,” he said, referring to Sombilon.
He promised to send his officers to the area today so they can report to him what really happened last Friday morning.
Duty-bound
Baricuatro said those with permits are duty-bound to observe the maximum diameter and depth of a hole they are allowed to make while dredging.
Sombilon also apparently did not stick to her agreement with local officials that she would rehabilitate the site.
That was after barangay officials complained about the danger and damage the quarrying pose to their constituents.
Tajadlangit said that around 3 p.m. last Tuesday, a neighbor, identified as Rowena, saw Samson and Samboy rinsing in the hole. She allegedly warned them and sent them away, but they returned.
Rowena, who was doing her laundry, told police she was later left wondering because the children disappeared.
“Pero nagtoo na man lang siya nga nanguli ang mga bata, nipadayon siya’g laba (but she thought they had gone home so she went on doing her laundry),” Tajadlangit said.
Rowena admitted that she thought she saw a head bob for a split second in the middle of the hole.
She later dismissed it as a figment of her imagination.
It was only after a neighbor came half an hour later and asked if she saw the children that she realized that what she saw could have been one of the victims slowly sinking to the bottom.
Police said the children were already dead when brought to the Toledo City District Hospital.
(May 8, 2003 issue)
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