Thursday, June 26, 2008
Skipper said ship was ‘big and would not sink’
“KAYA ito. Malaki ang barko.” These were the words—we can survive this, the ship is big—the captain of the mv Princess of the Stars reportedly spoke when passengers asked him to cancel the trip that turned out to be the ship’s last voyage.
This was the account of two survivors, Oliver Amores and Jessie Buot, who swam six hours to the shore of Sibuyan Island, wearing life vests.
And this is why, apart from information about where their loved ones are, relatives of the victims demanded only one thing from Sulpicio Lines as they gathered at the Cebu City Sports Complex yesterday.
“Ipalabas niyo ang kapitan (Show us the captain),” 21-year-old Daisy Jane Oleo shouted, her voice already hoarse from crying.
The thousand-strong crowd cheered in agreement.
Princess of the Stars Master Captain Florencio Marimon is among the crewmen declared missing. (See related story)
Also among the missing are a member of the PNP Regional Band 7 and four sea marshals from the Maritime Police Group and the Philippine Coast Guard.
Sea marshals
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Ronald Roderos and Senior Supt. Leodegardo Acebedo of the police regional operations and plans division, in yesterday’s monthly Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis forum, said they confirmed the report after receiving a copy of the passengers’ manifest.
Roderos was also informed by the wife of SPO3 Adolfo Villareal, Susan, that her husband was among those aboard when the ship left Manila last Friday night and headed straight into typhoon Frank’s path.
Apart from Villareal, police officials also identified four sea marshals—PO1 Ricardo Maramag, PO1 Gerardo Vallozo, PO2 Reynaldo Macaraeg, all from the Maritime Police Group and SN1 Charlon Ramos of the Coast Guard—as among those who remained missing until yesterday.
The four sea marshals, Roderos said, were detailed as the ship’s escorts as part of the security measures against terrorist threats.
Villareal, 51, of Barangay Polo, Alcantara, Cebu, went to Manila on official business to process the requirements for optional retirement, Roderos said.
Villareal, who has been in the service for about 30 years, plays the horn and serves as an alternate drummer of the police regional office’s band.
Vigil
Should Villareal be officially declared missing, his family will still receive all the benefits that a police officer gets when he retires from the service, said Roderos.
Hundreds of men and women continued their vigil at the Cebu City sports complex all day yesterday, waiting for word about their loved ones.
Requests made through radio, updates on the Internet, phone calls and appeals to the Coast Guard were the norm of the day.
They talked in groups, awaiting reports, attempting to sift fact from rumors. Every microphone announcement sent a crowd milling, only to disperse upon learning that the
announcement, whatever it was, did not contain a loved one’s name.
Even a photo of their relative’s dead body, they said, was better than no word at all.
But Daisy Jane Oleo could not believe that her husband, Angelo, was dead.
She said they had only married two Octobers ago. And since her husband was a seaman, they had only spent four and a half months together in their nearly two years of marriage.
Promise
The trip aboard the mv Princess of the Stars was to be the trip that would unite them at last.
“He told me he’d come back for me, and I believe that,” Daisy said in Tagalog, her petite frame shaking in an attempt to hold back sobs.
She had come from Iligan to confirm whether or not her husband had really been aboard that trip, when a call she made to Sulpicio Lines did not yield any result.
She arrived at the sports complex the other day and saw a list that confirmed her fears: her husband had boarded the ship.
Echoes of her desperation reverberated throughout the whole complex, shown either in blank stares or loud wails.
After a Holy Mass held at the complex yesterday morning, women remained by the altar, praying before a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Some, however, preferred to stay by a bulletin board filled with pictures and contact information of loved ones who have yet to be found, dead or alive.
Waiting
The pictures, mostly cutouts, all varied, like photos in a scrapbook: a girl on graduation day, a couple being wed, a martial artist wearing a green belt, two women
hugging, babies.
Even survivor Amores’ picture was on the bulletin board.
Others chose to stare at the official passenger list, where a few names had been marked “casualty” and, fewer yet, “survivor”.
Majority, however, have blanks beside their names, and their relatives monitor the radio, television and Internet regularly.
Survivors Amores and Buot narrated that many passengers managed to jump ship.
And for the relatives staying at the sports complex yesterday, the thought that their loved one may suddenly show up was enough to keep them waiting. (KAB/With JST)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 26, 2008 issue)
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