Chris V. Panganiban / March 4, 2024 /8:03 pm
MAWAB, Davao de Oro (MindaNews / 4 March)—Yet another family lost 13 members during the Masara landslide in the neighboring municipality of Maco on Feb. 6, MindaNews learned over the weekend during a relief mission as evacuees housed in various public schools here shared their stories.
Jesibel Garcia, 39, said 13 family members perished in the landslide: her father, three siblings, eight nephews and nieces, while another niece remains missing. All were residing in Zone 1, considered the ground zero of the incident.
Her immediate family—with husband Israelito and seven children—were spared but witnessed in horror as they watched through a window from their house and sari-sari store their relatives being covered with mud and other debris cascading downhill.
Three weeks ago, MindaNews reported about the family of 54-year-old Nenita Raganet, who also lost 13 in the family: three children, two children-in-law, and eight grandchildren.
“We huddled together, and my husband embraced us tightly as we witnessed the powerful wave of cascading landslide,” recounted Garcia, who was just discharged from the Davao Regional Medical Center in Tagum City in Davao del Norte after battling traumatic depression for the second time.
Her husband had worked as a miner at Apex Mining Company for a decade.
Aside from her immediate family, Garcia said her mother and younger brother Ramil, who works at Apex, were spared because they were visiting relatives in Mati City.
Along with other evacuees, the Garcias have been staying for a month at the Lorenzo Sarmiento National High School, which was visited by reporters who accompanied an outreach relief mission organized by Philsaga Mining Corp. Foundation, Inc. (PMCFI) based in Rosario and Bunawan towns in Agusan del Sur.
Garcia said she had arranged for a Mass for the deceased, some of whom were already in an advanced stage of decomposition, while others’ bodies were dismembered. All the deceased family members were laid to rest at the public cemetery in Mawab.
Another evacuee at the school, Margie Cuentro, 71, recounted the miraculous escape of his son Marvin, driver of one of the buses that was buried in the landslide.
Marvin, she said, sustained a blood clot on his skull when hit by a rock but managed to survive by jumping into an area where two Gmelina trees intertwined, aiding his escape.
“He was unconscious upon arrival at the hospital but regained consciousness after 24 hours,” Cuentro narrated, adding that her son is now back to normal, with hospital expenses shouldered by Apex.
Mary Yap, 56, who is now housed at the Mawab Central Elementary School along with her six children, shared the loss of their half-hectare banana and coconut farmland in Masara, buried by the landslide. While their house in neighboring Barangay Elizalde was spared, she said they were evacuated due to its proximity to the riverbank, a hazard zone.
With their livelihood lost, Yap’s family, now reliant on daily food aid from the local government of Maco, faces uncertainty about the duration of available supplies.
Yap mentioned that the municipal government has yet to designate a safe relocation site for them to build new homes, considering that the school evacuation centers in Mawab will be needed by students by March 15.
Touched by the plight of three young children and three teenagers orphaned by the landslide, Reygela Decalit, managing director of PMCFI, pledged scholarship grants for them. (MindaNews, however, failed to get details about the orphans as the delegation could not stay long in the evacuation center.)
“My heart is heavy. This is the first time I truly feel the weight of helplessness,” she expressed during an interview at the outreach mission.
Decalit said the scholarship grants include free tuition to any school in the Philippines, a monthly stipend of P4,000, free board and lodging, uniform allowance, and book allowance for collegiate students. K-to-12 students will receive free tuition and miscellaneous fees, book allowance, and uniform allowance, she added. (Chris V. Panganiban / MindaNews)
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