Roxas brings joy, checks to road crash victims

JAMEROSE Bankin, 15, a survivor of the Sept. 9 road crash in Benguet province, chats with Interior Secretary Mar Roxas at Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center. VINCENT CABREZA/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAGUIO CITY—Relatives of victims of a Sept. 9 vehicular accident in Buguias town in Benguet province shared the pain of losing their loved ones with Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II on Monday.

Upon the instructions of President Benigno Aquino III, who is in the United States for several official engagements, Roxas went to Baguio with presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda to condole with the families of the 12 high school students who died after the jeepney they were riding fell into a ravine.

The families were taken to a Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) facility here by personnel from the office of Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan.

Roxas gave the families of each victim a P108,000 check from the Office of the President. The 13th fatality was Efren Dalisdis, the father of one of the victims and who was driving the Ford Fiera that fell into the 100-meter ravine.

Dalisdis picked up his son, John Ray, from Poblacion (Buguias) National High School and allowed the other students to hitch a ride with them.

Among the parents who met Roxas was Leonora Dalisdis, widow of Dalisdis and mother of John Ray.

Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan told Roxas that Efren Dalisdis, like many Buguias motorists, had picked up the students, some of whom would have hiked for more than a kilometer to reach home.

“[Dalisdis’ actions] that day was well-meaning,” Fongwan said.

But the accident left many Buguias families in shock, said Jaime Pulano, village chief of Amlimay where many of the victims lived.

“We in the community now think it will be better if our children just walk home,” Pulano said.

He said walking was common in the area because public transport was scarce.

Residents said students often hitched a ride with buses and jeepneys or trucks driven by farmers who return to the town after delivering their crops to the Benguet capital of La Trinidad.

Pulano said many of the families tended vegetable gardens for a living, but work had stopped even after they buried their children. “They seem lost,” he said.

Reading a statement from the President, Roxas offered Mr. Aquino’s condolences. “Rest assured this government would not abandon you,” Roxas told the families. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon