Kin of missing cling to hopes loved ones alive

ILIGAN CITY—In the absence of something more solid to hold on to, relatives of some of the missing in the Dec. 17 disaster that struck this city and Cagayan de Oro City have been clinging to the one thing that keeps their hopes alive—dreams.

After search and retrieval operations for the missing stopped, the task of finding men, women and children who can’t be accounted for has fallen on their relatives.

As of Jan. 16, a report by the city social welfare and development office said at least 566 persons are missing.

The National Bureau of Investigation continues to receive information on the missing persons, though.

The relatives of those confirmed dead in the Dec. 17 disaster are expected to be at the city cemeteries to observe the 40th day of the deaths of their loved ones.

Relatives of those missing won’t be among them. One of them is Lorimer Salcedo, 52, who had been frequenting the beach of Bayug Island for information on his family.

Salcedo, a fisherman who admitted he can’t swim, is the lone survivor in his four-member family.

While he grieves over the loss of his wife, Teresita, their 9-year-old son Loresal and 11-year-old daughter Loren, the absence of their bodies keeps him hoping they’re still alive.

Lorimer knows how to identify his family. Loresal has a scar from an appendectomy. Loren has a birthmark in the left leg.

Rosito Buhion, 54, also frequents the beach of Bayug Island to search for his wife, Josephine, and 17 other members of his extended family.

Rosito vividly recalls that while negotiating the raging waters of Mandulog River at the height of the disaster, his wife clung to his back while he carried grandchildren Ethel Jane, 8, and Kim, 10, in his arms.

But a log floating in the water ran smack into his face, throwing him forward and forcing him to lose his grip on the children, except for Ethel Jane who clung tightly.

Rosito, however, can’t find the bodies of the other members of his family, including his wife Josephine.

On Dec. 21, an ID was found on the shores of Bayug. It belonged to Josephine and was all Rosito could hang on to.

“This is all that she left me,” said Rosito.

Leni Kundiman, 39, said she saw how her 43-year-old husband Angelito Sr. was carried to sea by floods.

The couple, with their three teenage children, were clinging to a rope when a piece of log slammed into Angelito.

Leni said she heard her husband cry in pain, maybe after suffering from a heart attack as he was carried by the rampaging water.

Leni and 16-year-old son Angelito Jr. were also washed out to sea but survived. They can’t, however, find Angelito Sr.’s body.

“I always pray that he shows himself in my dreams,” Leni said. She said her husband “worried for people but he didn’t want people to worry for him.” Ryan D. Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao