Quake-affected families celebrate Sto. Niño feast at Davao Sur evacuation site

Displaced families of Barangay Alta Vista hear the Holy Mass to celebrate the feast of Senior Sto. Niño on Thursday, January 23, despite their difficult condition at the evacuation site. ORLANDO DINOY

BANSALAN, DAVAO DEL SUR –– Homelessness and displacement failed to stop more than a hundred families in Altavista village here from celebrating the feast of Sr. Sto. Niño at the evacuation site.

The village, about seven kilometers from here, had been badly hit by a series of strong earthquakes that left a trail of destruction in Davao del Sur and Cotabato provinces in October and December 15 last year.

But instead of turning away from what they believed was a miraculous patron saint, Catholic villagers thanked the Sto. Niño for delivering them to safety.

After their old chapel collapsed from the tremors, Catholic residents initiated a “Bayanihan” to build a makeshift chapel out of laminated sacks at the evacuation site.

Some of them had no money to buy meat for the celebration but managed to partake of meat from fellow evacuees, promising to pay later.

Gema Sedon was among those who joined the mass celebrated by Benedictine priest Fr. Joseph Santé Alcala Dolera on Thursday, January 23. She said despite difficulties at the evacuation site, she remained thankful to the Sto Niño for protecting her family during the quake.

“We thank Senior Sto. Niño because He saved us,” Sedon said.

Romeo Julian admitted he got meat on credit from a neighbor who slaughtered her pig, a far cry from the previous village fiesta when they roasted a pig.

The houses of both Sedon and Julian were destroyed during the series of quakes that badly hit the provinces of Davao del Sur and Cotabato last year, and left tension cracks in some parts of Alta Vista village, prompting town officials to declare the village as a no-build zone.

Amid difficulties, evacuees from Barangay Altavista, Bansalan, Davao del Sur celebrate the feast of Sr. Sto Niño at the evacuation site. ORLANDO DINOY

To survive, many of the quake victims sold their pigs to buy their basic needs at the evacuation site.

But Barangay Chair Randy Navarro said it was important for them to celebrate the annual feast because no earthquake could destroy their belief in the Infant Jesus.

During the mass, Navarro expressed his wish to the Sto. Niño to help them find a way to pay the four-hectare relocation site, which would amount to P1.2 million.

Of the 252 families displaced by the quakes in the village, only six went home to build tents outside their houses.

A total of 246 families remained at the evacuation site.

Navarro said the Mines and Geosciences Bureau recommended the forced evacuation of 130 families from Sitio Sunop, earlier declared a danger zone because of the tension cracks found in the area after the quake.

Aside from a relocation site, village officials also needed to build a diversion road as the old road had been deemed dangerous because of landslides./lzb