Double whammy?

Did looters pounce on the victims in the fatal road accident in barangay Uling, Naga City, southern Cebu?

The family of a sweetcorn vendor, who was one of the fatalities, complained that his P1,000 earnings were missing.

Valeriano Purisima, 52, of barangay Casoy, Toledo City, was the 11th fatality in the accident where a trailer truck rammed a passenger bus.

Purisima went home on Wednesday to remit his earnings for the daily consumption of his family.

Purisima’s son, Adie, said they only learned on Thursday afternoon that his father rode the ill-fated bus.

Adie said his father was supposed to go home weekly from Minglanilla town where he sells sweet corn for a living.

Adie said his father used to stay in the house of his sister in Minglanilla.

But Adie said their mother Felicisima called up their father to inform him that they didn’t have money to buy food and for school expenses of his younger siblings.

Adie said they were not expecting their father to board the bus on Wednesday and it was only the next that they learned from his sister that their father went home bringing his P1,000 earnings.

Purisima died at the hospital in Toledo City on Wednesday night. His remains were transferred to the St Francis Funeral Homes in Cebu City.

Adie said they are worried for their mother who is sickly and for his four younger siblings who are still studying.

Adie said they are still waiting for the help promised by the Toledo City government so they could bring the body of his father home.

He said they could not afford to hire a vehicle to transport the remains of his father.