MANILA, Philippines?More than a month has passed after Tropical Storm ?Ondoy? wreaked havoc in most parts of the country, but Rima Donasco is still searching for her 11-year-old son Harry who was swept away by the floods on Sept. 26 in Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City.

?My neighbors have already buried their dead, but I still can?t find my son. I don?t have a grave to go to where I can light candles for his soul,? she said as she held up a faded photograph of her son.

Several residents of Sitio Binhi ni Abraham, flood victims like Donasco, went back Saturday to where their homes once stood to say prayers and light candles for their dead.

?We haven?t given up looking for Harry. We joined search teams in Marikina City and Rizal province, but so far, we have been unsuccessful in our efforts,? Donasco said while sticking a candle on the muddied earth on the site of her forer home.

?Buti pa sila, nakapaglibing na,? (My neighbors are luckier because they were able to buy their dead), she told Inquirer, pointing to her neighbors.

The area of Barangay Bagong Silangan?which is near the boundary of Quezon City with San Mateo, Rizal, and Marikina City?was heavily devastated by Ondoy after flashfloods swept the community.

What used to be shanties and concrete houses standing on fields near the mountains of Rizal is now a depressing landscape of muck, broken pieces of cement blocks and assorted debris.

The residents decided to pay their respects to their dead on Saturday at the site where floodwaters swelled and swept away their neighbors at the height of Ondoy.

William Cerdena, a resident and member of the Alyansang Maralita ng Quezon City, said they will never forget that day which resulted in the loss of many lives and the destruction of their homes and properties.

?Remembering the dead, most especially our loved ones, is in our culture. But this time we also remember those who met an untimely death, deaths that should not have happened if the government had been prepared. The urban poor are the victims here and not the cause,? he said.

Cerdena claimed that 52 residents died from the floods and that the community is still missing 40 more, including Donasco?s son Harry.

Displaced families, numbering about 75, are still occupying the nearby covered court a month after the incident.

The Quezon City government earlier promised to relocate the residents to a resettlement area in Bulacan province.

Donasco said she has not yet been advised about the procedures for moving to their new homes, although she said one of their neighbors had already transferred to the relocation site.

With her husband Marlon and her three children, Donasco said they tried to escape being caught in by moving to a higher roof during the flashflood, but their own roof gave way, forcing the three children to jump into the swirling waters.

Two of the children were later found alive, but Harry, the middle child, remains missing.

Another resident, Mila Basig, recalled the cries for help some residents heard in the middle of the night, especially during the heavy rains?which she claimed were of those who died.

?Sometimes, I hear knocks on my door, but when I open it, no one?s there. Perhaps it was one of my neighbors who died who thought he was knocking on the right door,? she said.

At other times, she added, she would hear the cries of children shouting for help and women wailing in the distance.

But every time Basig went outside to check, there was only the sound of rain and an eerie silence.

?I?m not really afraid because they are my neighbors. I pity them because they died so quickly and their souls are not yet at peace,? she said.

When Typhoon ?Santi? passed through Metro Manila causing minimal damage Saturday, Barangay Silangan residents again remembered that fateful day on Sept. 26 when floodwaters inundated their community and nothing has been the same again.

Even as she survived ?Ondoy? and its wrath, Donasco said she would not take any chances the next time another severe storm hits the country.

?I don?t want to lose any of my family again,? she said.