Saturday, October 11, 2008 Victims’ kin get P10T from del Mar
RELATIVES of 48 victims of the mv Princess of the Stars sinking received burial assistance of P10,000 for each victim from Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north district) yesterday.
Still in grief, the families welcomed the assistance, especially the relatives of the crew and non-crew members of the vessel owned by Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI).
The Gimeno sisters still have not received anything from SLI and the City Government, that’s why they were very emotional when they received the cash assistance yesterday from Cutie del Mar, the congressman’s daughter and chief of staff.
“This is the only help we received. We have nothing to spend even for fare to process the requirements for the city’s aid. This is really a big help,” Emilia Cabisas said in Bisaya.
Her 54-year-old brother, Pablito Gimeno, was a housekeeper in the vessel that sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon Province last June 21.
In behalf of her father, Cutie handed out burial assistance to relatives of 48 victims at the Cebu City Sports Center yesterday morning.
She said the assistance is given to poor constituents of the north district and is charged to del Mar’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Of the 48 victims, the bodies of 46 have already been identified and have been turned over to their families. The two others remain missing.
Cristimar Maramara, 29, lamented that she and the wives of other crew and non-crew members still haven’t received any assistance from SLI.
She said that some of them were assured by the employment agencies of their husbands that they would try to work out an insurance payment by SLI.
The Maramaras received P74,000 from the employment agency of her husband, who worked as a security escort in the vessel.
She said that she has to save all the cash assistance she will receive for the medication of their two-year-old child, who has a congenital heart disease. (LCR)
