Bohol town residents find sanctuary in cave

MABINI, BOHOL—A cave in this town became a sanctuary for 33 families who sought shelter there during the onslaught of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

The Popog cave, located half a kilometer from the barangay road of Marcelo village, became a cozy home to the evacuees who brought wooden beds, blankets and food supplies.

“Since our youth, we’ve always evacuated to this place every time there’s a typhoon,” said 62-year-old Patricio Salingay who shared the cave with his wife Emma, their four children and three grandchildren.

They feel safer staying inside the cave, he added.

Insp. Jaime Dulcero said he had designated Popog cave as one of the evacuation centers in Mabini.

Bohol province is known to be studded with caves, some of which became handy hiding places for rebels during the colonial times.

Among the most famous is the Francisco Dagohoy cave in Danao named after the Boholano rebel who fomented one of two significant uprisings (the other being the Tamblot rebellion) during the Spanish rule.

The Dagohoy cave was the headquarters of the rebel leader.  According to some history sources, the cave has many passages and an underwater route leading to dry land.  It is said that Dagohoy would swim underwater through one of these passages to evade the Spaniards looking for him.

This time around, the 33 families who sought shelter in Popog cave were evading the strong winds of Yolanda.

Another 300 families from 20 barangays in the town also left their homes for other evacuation centers.

Mabini Vice Mayor Juanito Payoma visited the centers to check on how safe they were and to promise bottled water to the evacuees.

More than 18,000 individuals were in  evacuation centers in Ubay, Jagna, Talibon and Loon in Bohol.

Reports also showed that 8,726 families in Western Visayas, 8,000 families in Southern Leyte, 1,540 families in the towns of Tarangnan and Matuguinao in Samar province, 6,000 families in the province of Cebu and 7,400 families in the cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu were housed in various evacuation centers.

The evacuees in Western Visayas included the 315 families in Boracay who were sheltered in evacuation centers in Barangays Balabag, Manoc-Manoc and Yapak, according to Felix delos Santos, media coordinator of the Boracay community “Operation Yolanda” command center.

Among those who sought shelter in the Cebu City legislative building were Juliet Doyo, 29, her husband Jordan and 2-year-old son John Javier who traveled from Aklan province on their way to Ormoc. The family was, however, unable to leave due to the typhoon and was accommodated at the Cebu City Hall with 21 other families similarly stranded by the typhoon.

In Calbayog City, 160 Luzon-bound passengers of five buses coming from Mindanao were stranded and  given assistance by the city government. With  reports from Nestor Burgos Jr., Carla Gomez, Jani Arnaiz, Jhunnex Napallacan, Carmel Loise Matus, Jennifer Allegado, Doris Bongcac and Jani Arnaiz

RELATED STORIES:

‘Yolanda’ blasts through PH; 3 dead

‘Yolanda’ weakens, on way out of PH