Thursday, September 11, 2008 Family bids ship captain goodbye; identification 99.9% correct: DVI
“THIS is him. He has come home to us.”
The family of ship captain Florencio Marimon Sr. asked last night for an end to speculations that he remains in hiding, hours after they buried him in a public cemetery in Pardo, Cebu City.
“Nisalig ko sa DNA testing. (We trust in the results of the DNA test.) Siya ni. Niuli na siya namo,” Marimon’s widow, Rose, said in a radio dySS interview with Bobby Nalzaro some five hours after the burial.
The Disaster Victim Identification-Information Management Center (DVI-IMC) also released yesterday the official list of identified victims, including Marimon, to dispel any doubts that the captain of the Princess of the Stars remained alive more than two months after the ship sank in stormy weather off Romblon.
International Police (Interpol) press officer Rosemarie Holganza Borromeo said that the DNA test by the DVI was 99.9 percent accurate.
Samples from two relatives of Marimon were sent to Sarajevo, where the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) laboratory is located.
When the DNA result arrived, Borromeo said, the DVI Board convened to make sure that everything was in order before calling the Marimon family.
The family buried him at 3 p.m. yesterday
Rose and their son made the burial arrangements on Tuesday, cemetery security guard Godofredo Abistado told radio dyLA.
Abistado added that while the Marimon family had asked to keep the burial under wraps, he told the family that he could not lie to those who would ask about the captain’s identity.
In order to secure the area during the burial, the Marimon family asked for security from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO). The CCPO sent three policemen to the burial, said PO3 Richard Pagadiab of the Pardo Police Station.
The Marimon family tried to keep the wake and burial as quiet as possible, and yesterday expressed dismay that their privacy has been violated.
“Sakit gyud kayo ang among gibati. Tinuod nga daghan ang nawad-an, pero hasta man sab mi (We are hurting. It’s true that many families lost their loved ones, but so did we),” Marimon’s daughter Rosette said in the same dySS interview last night. “Unsa pa man inyong kuhaon namo (What else do you want from us)?”
Her mother, Rose, said they planned to issue a statement after the funeral, but kept the wake as private as possible so they could pay their last respects in peace.
She last spoke with Florencio a couple of days before the Princess of the Stars sailed from Manila, confident that he would make it home safely.
The June 21 sinking was the only accident Florencio was involved in after more than 32 years with Sulpicio Lines, Rose said.
“Kami nga nahibilin niya nga pamilya, modawat na lang gyud sa mga ipangsulti sa mga tawo…pero daghan nga nakaila niya ang moingon nga maayo siya nga kapitan (The family has no choice but to accept that people have to say…but many of those who knew my husband have said he was a good captain),” said Rose.
“Kadto nga panghitabo, trahedya. Pareho ta nga nawad-an (That was a tragedy. Like the other families, we too have lost someone),” she added.
The ship captain would have turned 55 next month. (EPB/EOB)
