BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Authorities already retrieved the body of two of the three teenagers who went missing after they were swept away by rampaging waters in the river in Barangay Mandalagan here.
Authorities said the body of the second victim Carl Gabriel Cabrillo was recovered by local residents Friday morning in Talisay City, Negros Occidental.
The first fatality was 18-year-old Janet Rodriguez, whose body was found Thursday in Talisay City’s Barangay Zone 15.
Cabrillo and Rodriguez were positively identified by their family and relatives.
The third victim, Jharen Pahilagao, meanwhile, remained missing.
Personnel of Bacolod and Talisay Disaster Risk Reduction Management offices believed Pahilagao’s remains may have been trapped in a hole in the river.
Searching for his body also proved difficult as rescuers had to walk at least two kilometers towards the Matab-ang River, as well as the river’s shape which they described as a “zigzag.”
Meanwhile, Pahilagao’s mother, Arlyn, stated she had been warning her son about taking a swim in the river, but her son ignored it.
Arlyn added she last spotted her son alive on Wednesday around 11 a.m., a few hours before she went to work.
Joemarie Vargas, head of the Bacolod City DRRMO, said the fourth victim, Gio Paulo Cabrillos, managed to survive the incident.
The four were swimming in the river when the strong current brought by a heavy downpour carried them downstream.
Gio told authorities he managed to survive after his sibling, Carl, pushed him to the riverbank.
Authorities since suspended their search and retrieval operation./PN
