WAITING for the dead.
This is what the Baguio and Janson families in Barangay Ermita, Cebu City have been doing after their relatives perished in the turbulent waters at the Iloilo-Guimaras Strait on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 3, 2019.
The Baguio family’s patriarch, Romeo Sr., was found floating off Jordan town in Guimaras by the Philippine Air Force (PAF)-505th Search and Rescue Group at 7:45 a.m. Monday.
Romeo Sr. had boarded a motorized banca with his son Romeo Jr., who was about to ask the parents of his partner, Maria Nieves Grandeza, for permission to marry her.
In the same trip with them were Angelina, the wife of Romeo Sr.; Jay Arvien, the three-year-old son of Romeo Jr. and Grandeza; and their other relatives—Dannylyn, Dannelle and Romnel. The Jansons who joined them were Bernardo and Jared.
Strong winds and big waves capsized the boat, sending all of them, save for Grandeza, to their deaths.
Two other passenger boats suffered the same fate, hurling over 20 passengers to their deaths in the unsteady waters.
Grandeza was the one who identified the dead Baguios and Jansons, according to Ermita Barangay Captain Mark Miral.
President Rodrigo Duterte is reportedly scheduled to meet the survivors and the families of the fatalities in Iloilo City, according to Miral’s contact person.
All the bodies, except for those of Dannelle and Romnel, had been retrieved, and are expected to be flown to Cebu by the PAF’s C-130 cargo plane that was requested by Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella through the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas.
As of 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5, the official death toll is at 28, authorities said. Fifty-two persons survived, while six others remain missing, including Dannelle and Romnel.
The Baguios and Jansons will receive financial and burial assistance from the Cebu City Government.
Meanwhile, more than 250 passengers were stranded at the wharves of Punta Engaño and Angasil in Lapu-Lapu City, after the Cebu Coast Guard barred motorized banca from transporting passengers because of big waves. (from PAC of Superbalita Cebu/KAL/JKV/SunStar Philippines)