HERMOGENES ALINGANGA, 60, could only gaze at the coffins of his daughter Jenissa, son-in-law Lemuel and their four children as they were buried yesterday.
Alinganga said he never thought he would lose his loved ones in the landslide in Barangay Tina-an, City of Naga.
“It’s not their time yet. They should be the ones to bury me, not the other way round,” Alinganga told SunStar Cebu yesterday.
Killed with Jenissa and her husband were their children Jasmine, 12; her twin Jillian; Riz Janine, 5; and Mark Lawrence, 3.
Members of the Campanilla and Lobiano clans of Sitio Sindulan who died in the landslide were also buried yesterday.
A requiem mass was held at the Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi in the City of Naga at 1 p.m.
Relatives and friends of the victims came in droves to mourn and pay their last respects to the dead, who were laid to rest at the New Naga Public Cemetery in Barangay Naalad.
One of those who attended the burial rites was Princess May Tabuco, a friend of Jillian Campanilla.
Tabuco was emotional at the sight of the 12-year-old’s coffin.
Tabuco recalled that the night before the landslide, Jillian texted her “I love you. Goodbye” for no reason.
Residents of Sitios Sindulan and Tagaytay, where the landslide hit the hardest, called for justice and an end to quarrying in Naga.
Emerito Quesido, vice president of Sitio Sindulan chapel association, urged residents to file a case against the Apo Land and Quarry Corp.
As of the last count, 51 died in the landslide, 10 were injured and 45 are still missing. (JKV)