BY GLENDA TAYONA and RUBY SILUBRICO
ILOILO City – The squall that capsized three boats in the Iloilo Strait between this city and Guimaras Island past noon on Saturday did not only kill people. It also broke hearts and dashed dreams.
The casualties included, among others, a man planning to marry his long-time partner and teachers hoping to earn their master’s degree. As of 5:30 p.m. yesterday, 27 boat passengers were confirmed to have died and six remained missing.
According to survivor Maria Nieves Grandeza, 28, the weekend trip from Guimaras, her home province, to Iloilo City was supposed to be a happy one.
Hours before the tragedy, her family met the family of her long-time Cebu-based partner for the customary palamaye – the Filipino tradition of a man and his family visiting his future bride’s family to ask for her hand in marriage.
As their boat,M/B Jenny Vince, was negotiating the rough Iloilo Strait the clouds above suddenly turned gray, said Grandeza, mother of a three-year-old boy.
It then rained heavily and strong winds started rocking their boat violently until it capsized.
It was a squall, a sudden violent gust of wind or a localized storm, the Philippine Coast Guard would later say.
Grandeza lost her long-time partner Romeo Baguio Jr. and their son Jay Arvien.
The father and son were among the 11 bodies retrieved yesterday morning underneath the capsized M/B Jenny Vince which had drifted to the waters of Dumangas, Iloilo.
As of this writing, other members Grandeza’s family who were with her in the boat were still missing.
“Palangga ka gid ni Mama (Mama loves you so much),” Grandeza whispered to her dead son as soon as she was able to see him at the Ramon D. Duremdes District Hospital in Dumangas.
The boy would have played a special role in her parent’s wedding had he and his father survived.
QUESTIONS RAISED
Data from the provincial government of Guimaras showed the three capsized boats had a combined passengers and crew of 86 (the Office of Civil Defense had it at 87) but that the number of passengers in the manifestos was only 75.
Eleven passengers were not listed.
As of 5:30 p.m. there were 53 confirmed survivors and six remained missing.
The survivors were brought to various hospitals in Iloilo City.
Were the boats inspected by the coastguard prior to traveling, netizens asked, and was there overloading?
Questions were also raised on the availability of life vests in the three boats. Were there enough of them for the passengers, and did the passengers put them on?
Netizens were primarily hurling these questions at the coastguard, the agency tasked to conduct boat inspections and enforce sea travel guidelines.
There were unconfirmed reports, too, that the coastguard did not immediately halt all Iloilo-Guimaras boat trips after the first capsizing.
The first capsizing, at around 12:30 p.m., involved M/B Chichi and M/B Keziah 2. They were bound for Jordan, Guimaras from Iloilo City.
M/B Chichi had 47 passengers while M/B Keziah 2 only had its four crewmen.
Three hours after, M/B Jenny Vince capsized. It was from Guimaras and was found for Iloilo City. It had 40 passengers.
DREAM-SNUFFER
Guimaras’ Gov. Samuel Gumarin traveled to Iloilo City and checked the survivors and families of the casualties in various hospitals. He said they would be provided financial assistance.
All survivors and the families of the casualties could also file insurance claims, said Gumarin.
A squall is not an unfamiliar weather phenomenon in the Iloilo Strait. In October 2015 for example, M/B Tawash capsized resulting to the death of nine persons.
The boat was from Iloilo City and bound for Jordan, Guimaras. Thirty-one passengers were rescued.
For Joylyn Celiz of Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo, Saturday’s squall was a dream-snuffer. It killed an uncle who was supporting several nephews and nieces going to school.
“Tito, bugtaw (wake up)! Bugtaw, Tito!” screamed Celiz as several men who retrieved the body of George Buenavista were removing the plastic wrapping him.
Buenavista, a bachelor, was a teacher at Agcuyawan Calsada Elementary School in Barotac Nuevo and was studying for a master’s degree at Guimaras State University.
According to Celiz, her uncle was scheduled for an interview next week relative to his application for a head teacher position.
That interview would never come to pass.
Four other teachers dreaming of a master’s degree also drowned. But just hours before their boat capsized Lynlyn Janolino managed to record their happy moments at Guimaras State University and posted it on her Facebook page.
Little did they know it would be their final “groufie.”
Janolino and colleagues Ivy Grace Labordo, Ma. Zenie Anilao and Emely Legada were teachers at Lambunao National High School in Lambunao, Iloilo.
Distraught by the tragedy, the Department of Education in Western Visayas enjoined “our DepEd family to pray for God’s comforting presence and love for the bereaved families.”
The Office of Civil Defense listed some of the casualties: Andre Valenzuela of Bataan; Jaquilyn Alferez of Manila; Eden Ferares of Puerto Princesa City; Ivy Grace Labordo of Lambunao, Iloilo; Danelle Baquio, Romeo Baquio Jr. and Jay Arvien Baquio, all of Buenavista, Guimaras; Nena Gardose of Buenavista; Rose Telis of Nueva Valencia, Guimaras; Lemmy Rombla of Barangay Quintin Salas, Jaro, Iloilo City; Lynlyn Janolino, Ma. Zenny Anilao and Emily Legarda of Lambunao, Iloilo; Jhairus James Alejado of Mandurriao, Iloilo City; Angie Basco, Jhinny Condestable, Cynthia Elisario, and Elizar Galotera of Jordan, Guimaras; Lourdes Gasangan of Nueva Valencia, Guimaras; Jen Lloyd Salanatin of Mandurriao, Iloilo City; Claire Faith Sigua of Nueva Valencia; Adora Java of Mandurriao, Iloilo City; Reycille Fenis of Jordan.
Iloilo City’s Jerry Treñas said the city government would be releasing assistance to fatalities from Iloilo City./PN
