Elmer Superales (right) will try anything just to recover the remains of his brother buried in a landslide triggered by the 6.6 magnitude quake on Oct. 29 in the mountainous area of Upper Bala village. After rescuers backed out from going to the area, he organized a team of relatives to save Aison Attic, 28, the injured companion of his brother Gilbert Superales, just to find out where his brother lies. (Photo by Germelina A. Lacorte / Inquirer Mindanao)
MAGSAYSAY, Davao del Sur, Philippines — As whole country flocked to the cemeteries to remember the dead, Elmer Superales of Upper Bala village here only has one wish: To retrieve even just a bone of his brother so that he could give him a proper burial.
Gilbert Superales, 32, was one of the two residents of Barangay Upper Bala earlier reported to have been buried in a landslide triggered by the magnitude 6.6 quake that rocked Cotabato province on Oct. 29.
He and Miggy Attic were among the group of six young men who left Upper Bala village in the early morning of Oct. 29 to fix the pipes supplying water to the village. The pipes were damaged last Oct. 16, when another quake — of magnitude 6.3 — hit Mindanao.
Thirteen days had passed since the first quake and the aftershocks seemed to have further damaged the pipes.
Fe Maturan, the mother of one of the young volunteers, said there would have been several of them who were going but the others were still afraid to go to the site, which could only be reached by going down through a deep ravine.
Another quake
Barely two hours after the six volunteers left on Tuesday, the magnitude 6.6 quake struck.
They were already fixing the water pipes and were happy to see the first gush of water from the spring reservoir when the earth moved and soil and rocks from one of the cliffs above them came crashing down, recalled Frith Dave Maturan, 17, one of the six volunteers.
Maturan said three of the volunteers, including himself, were on top of a huge rock protecting the spring, which served as the water source for the entire village.
Another three — composed of Gilbert, Miggy and Aison Attic — stood below them fixing the pipes right at the water source.
“The pipes had already started to work and we were about to jump to join them and finish the work when the earthquake struck,” Maturan said.
When it started to shake, members of Maturan’s group on the upper level were able to run and take cover from the wall of the big rock which protected them against the onrushing debris.
Below them, Attic and Superales found protection as they took cover at one side of the stone until the 90-foot cliff in front of them gave in and came crashing down right over them, Maturan said.
“The ground was shaking and we could hear them calling to Aison for help and Aison, who was just about a few feet from them, also calling out: ‘I can’t move. I’m buried, too!” Maturan said in Cebuano.
Saved by tree branches
After the quake, they immediately started calling out each other’s names. But it was only Aison Attic, half-buried under the debris, calling back to them for help.
According to villagers, Aison was saved by two branches from a fallen tree that crossed over him and prevented some of the onrushing rocks from hitting him directly.
Maturan said they recovered Aison, whose bones were badly broken from the debris, and moved him to a safer place and ran back to the village for help.
But later, when rescuers came and saw the landslide site, they did not push through with the recovery efforts because of the high risk, Alejo Catigan Jr., 42, said.
“They turned their backs because it was too risky to go on but they left all their equipment to be used by the villagers,” Catigan said.
It was Elmer Superales, determined to find the body of his brother, who organized a team composed of relatives to rescue Aison Attic, Catigan said.
“He came up with 16 young men and they went to the landslide site to get Aison,” he said. “Blood had already colored the water and sand was already in his mouth when they reached him about 4 pm,” Catigan said. “He must have been very hungry.”
“They took him. Eight men carried the body below to hand him over to another eight above them to receive it and they would again climb up to get the body from below because the whole way was a cliff,” Maturan said.
Since learning about what happened, Elmer had been going back and forth to the landslide site, trying to figure out how to recover his brother’s body.
“I even thought of digging a tunnel, but another quake struck and another fresh mound added up to the pile,” he said.
He estimated that some 30 feet of mud and debris had buried the is brother’s body during the Oct. 29 quake. But he said he checked the area two days later after another magnitude 6.5 quake struck and found another pile of debris added on top.
“As much as possible, I would like to recover his body,” said Elmer, who has been to the site at least three times. “He is my brother, I will do everything I can to take him back.”
/atm