“NISUNOD pa lang mo nako, ganiha ra unta nato nga nakuha ang akong amahan (If you only followed me a while ago, we could have long retrieved my father),” Rolando Lapiz emotionally told members of the search and rescue (SAR) team at 4 p.m. yesterday.
The SAR team, led by Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office Chief Baltazar Tribunalo didn’t proceed to the area pointed by Lapiz as they were still assessing its safety.
The area where Rolando’s father Nicanor, 85, lived was near the top of the landslide scene, Barangay Tagaytay Uno. It was where the landslide started straight down to Sitio Sindulan.
Rolando had asked the team to go the site at noon yesterday.
Nicanor had refused to leave the area despite the advice of the City of Naga days before the incident. Tribulano said they were assessing the risks, as it’s possible another landslide will happen if they start digging there.
Tribulano said some people made their way to the top in some parts of the landslide area to search for their family members buried there. That’s why he called on the police to deploy some personnel there to stop the people from exposing themselves to danger.
“Nakasabot man ta sa emosyon niining mga nabiling pamilya. Apan hangyo lang sad nato nila nga sunda lang sad mi kay ilang kaluwasan ra sad ang among gihunahuna (We understand how they are feeling. But they should also understand that we are only after their welfare),” Tribunalo said.
Aside from Nicanor, three other members of his family are feared buried in the top portion of the landslide area in Sitio Tagaytay.
Two of them are Alfie Yapac, Benie Silana Jr. and the latter’s girlfriend. They were on a motorcycle when the landslike struck. (Fe Marie D. Dumaboc, Correspondent)