2 sisters die in saving ma

SISTERS Sarah and Naomi

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—A mother dying for her children is not all that rare an occurrence, but in Herminia Felicilda’s case, it was her two daughters who died for her.

On the night of Dec. 16 when the great flood came, Naomi Felicilda, 46, and Sarah Benegildo, 50, were busy preparing for the next day’s family reunion to celebrate their mother’s 88th birthday.

The two women and another sister, Letty, were living with their mother in a rented two-bedroom house in Barangay Balulang. Their other siblings, except for sister Fe Chisley who is based in Maryland in the United States, live in nearby Opol town in Misamis Oriental and in Ozamiz City and were to travel to Cagayan de Oro to mark the happy occasion with them.

Little did the family know that the planned gathering would turn into a wake for Naomi and Sarah.

Herminia, the mother of 12 children and widowed for many years now, recalled that the electricity went off in their community at about 11 p.m. on Dec. 16.

“I heard a loud explosion outside and I asked my daughters what it was,” she said.

But before any of them could check, muddy floodwaters started pouring into the house.

The mother and her daughters made their way to a bedroom in total darkness. With the water rising very fast inside the house, they looked around for furniture to climb on to.

‘Don’t be afraid’

Naomi and Sarah turned up a wooden bed, hoisted their mother on it, and propped it up at both ends.

Herminia said she thought the ceiling had collapsed because she could feel it on her head. “They were holding the bed for me. They tried to hold on to the railings of the window so they would not drown, but the water was already too deep,” she said.

In less than an hour, the floodwaters had almost reached the ceiling of the house. But Herminia said she was calm because she knew her daughters would take care of her.

Naomi may have been the first to drown, she said, her eyes brimming with tears. She said the last words she heard from Naomi were: “Sar, I can’t breathe anymore.”

A few minutes later, she heard Sarah say: “Ma, don’t be afraid … I’m here.”

Then everything went silent, the mother said. She called out her daughters’ names, but all she could hear was the sound of the floodwaters splashing against the wall.

Herminia said that at around 5 a.m., or six hours later, neighbors passing in front of the house rescued her. Wading through the muddy water after coming down from the upended bed, she felt the thigh of one of her daughters brush against her.

She saw her children’s bodies when neighbors brought them out of the house. They were among the first taken to Bollozos Memorial Homes.

Close relationship

Letty Felicilda survived the flood only because she was unable to come home that night because of the downpour.

But Letty does not feel lucky to be alive. “How can I feel lucky when two of my sisters are dead?” she said.

It has been a week since Naomi and Sarah lost their lives, but the Felicildas have yet to schedule the interment because they are still awaiting the arrival of  Fe Chisley, who is stranded in New York.

Chisley has been living in Maryland for the past 12 years and is waiting for a flight to the Philippines as a chance passenger. It is she who financially supports her mother and sisters, according to Letty.

All the siblings enjoy a warm relationship but it was Fe, Naomi and Sarah who were particularly close, Letty said. She said the three women regularly spoke on the phone to catch up on one another’s lives.

Joe Felicilda, an elder brother, recalled that Naomi and Sarah were always welcoming when he dropped in for a visit. “Though we live far from each other, we were very close,” he said.

Viewing his sisters in their coffins, he said: “They were very loving aunts to my children.”

Naomi was unmarried, like Letty. Sarah was widowed two years ago and regularly traveled from Cagayan de Oro to Santiago, Agusan del Norte, to visit her husband’s grave.

The Felicildas are once more reunited, not to celebrate Herminia’s birthday, but to bury Naomi and Sarah, who so loved their mother that they gave up their lives for her.