THE sun setting did not only bring with it a huge influx of people to the Carreta Cemetery in Cebu City on Thursday, Nov.1, but also an unexpected visitor for Bladen Skyler Abatayo.
Dusk had already begun to blanket the sky when out of nowhere, a woman appeared and lit a single purple candle before Skyler’s tomb.
Rosario Mabanto and the Abatayos were not friends or acquaintances. They’ve never crossed paths before.
Mabanto, a 62-year-old retired merchandiser, only happened on Skyler’s name after hearing the news of the latter’s untimely death.
The four-year-old child was hit by a stray bullet during a police operation in Sitio Bato, Barangay Ermita last July.
“The child was innocent and what happened to him was unfair to his parents. If he had been my son, I wouldn’t have been able to accept what happened. I would have probably died of heartache,” Mabanto said in Cebuano.
A few minutes after Mabanto left, a group of four people carrying flowers still wrapped in newspapers arrived in the area.
Despite the dirt, May-may (not her real name) squatted on the ground to arrange a small basket of white chrysanthemums and red roses to go with the white candles she lit for her godson Skyler.
Holding back tears, May-may remembered Skyler as a happy and respectful child.
“He was a typical child, my children’s playmate. We’re praying for justice for his death and for his family,” she said in Cebuano.
Also in Carreta, flowers and candles were offered at the final resting place of controversial police officer SPO1 Adonis Dumpit.
Dumpit, who was a former close-in aide of Mayor Tomas Osmeña, was killed in a “drug bust” that led to a shootout with authorities in Tagbilaran City, Bohol last June.