Handicapped boy, 2-year-old sister left alone in house

A 14-year-old special needs child and his 2-year-old sister were killed when fire razed their house yesterday morning in a far-flung sitio in Compostela town in nothern Cebu.

The victims, Julito and Maricar Dejesica, were burned to death as neighbors who tried to rescue them were turned back by flames that quickly engulfed their house in sitio Batsing.

The elder victim couldn’t walk and had a speech disability while her sister was last seen sleeping in a hammock.

Their 38-year-old mother, Jocelyn who is five months pregnant, stepped out of the house to fetch water for her laundry while her husband was out working in a nearby poultry farm when the fire struck at around 9:30 a.m. The couple’s two other children – Mary Joy, 11 and John Paul, 9 – were in school.

Marivic Castro, who lives next door, was awakened by the 2-year-old girl’s cry for help. She rushed out of her house and saw flames jutting out from her neighbor’s house.

Her husband, Marjun, tried to douse the flames with water, but the fire got bigger. He then tried to get in the house but he was pushed back by the heat and thick smoke.

Jocelyn, who was alerted by neighbors, tried to run uphill with a bucket half-filled with water. The fire was almost out by the time she managed to reach her house which was left in smoldering ruins.

“Pag-abot nako, gamay na lang ang kayo unya wala na ko nabuhat… ga-sige na lang kog hilak, naghuna-huna sa akong anak,” she told Cebu Daily News as she watches over her children’s remains which were covered by burnt G.I sheets which used to be the roof of their home.

(The fire was already dying out when I reached the house. I was helpless and was just wailing, thinking about the fate of my children.)

Carlito, 43 was also despondent on seeing his children and house reduced to ashes.

“Wala na jud kayo pag-abot nako. Wala naman gani ko kabalo diin ko niagi atong panahona kay akong gihunahuna naa akong mga anak sa balay,” he said while using the hem of his shirt to wipe his tears.

(The fire was already out when I came. I couldn’t even remember how I was able to get home as my thoughts were just focused on my children who were left behind.)

He said his son Julito was just 14 days old when they rushed him to the hospital. He added that he was made to sign a waiver by the doctor before he gave an injection to his son. Julito grew up without speaking a word. It was then that they realized that he was a special child.

“Bahala lang unta kung pobre ko basta dili lang unta inani nahitabo sa akong pamilya,” Carlito said as he sobbed while recalling that his two-year-old daughter, Maricar, would usually give him a warm hug each time he goes home from work.

Carlito suspected that smoldering embers from their firewood-fueled stove could have caused the fire.

SF04 Danilo Almendra, the town’s fire chief, said the victims’ mother was cooking rice before she left the house. Jocelyn however, denied this, saying she had put out the fire after cooking her family’s breakfast.

SP04 Wilfredo Caturza said the house was tucked in a hilly portion of the sitio which was inaccessible to vehicles.

“Gibilin ra namo ang firetruck sa ubos kay di man makasud ang sakyanan didto,” he said.

From the main road, it took a Cebu Daily News team approximately 20 minutes to negotiate the uphill, rocky footpath leading to the house.

The Dejesica couple were still waiting for funeral service workers to collect their children’s remains by the time the CDN team left for the city at dusk.

Teddy Cagang, secretary of Compostela Mayor Joel Quiño, said they already directed their social services office to extend help to the victims.