‘Yolanda’ survivors’ wish: Peace for missing kin

FAMILIES of victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” release flowers and candles out to sea to remember their loved ones at Barangay 88 in San Jose district, Tacloban City, after a Mass that commemorated the departed. RAFFY LERMA

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—Twelve-year-old Angeline Yano threw flowers into the waters of Cancabato Bay, wishing that her mother and five siblings were now at peace.

She also prayed that she be guided so she could find the bodies of her mother and three siblings, especially since it has been almost a year since Supertyphoon “Yolanda” pummeled this city and the rest of the Visayas on Nov. 8, 2013.

“I wish to see their bodies. I miss my mother and my siblings, especially Aira Mae,” Angeline said, crying.

Angeline was among about 100 people who attended the Mass officiated by Fr. Hector Villamil for about 400 people who died in Sitio Mahusay, Barangay 88, the worst-hit village in Tacloban.

The Mass was held at the open field in Sitio Mahusay, a few meters from the Cancabato Bay, where storm surges spawned by Yolanda pummeled this city.

Angeline was accompanied by her aunt because her father, Tobias Jr., was out at sea, fishing.

Only Angeline and Tobias Jr. survived the wrath of Yolanda.

Her mother, Anita, 35, and five siblings perished during the killer typhoon.

Of the five siblings, only the bodies of Anthony, 16, and Tobias III, 11, were found.

The bodies of her other siblings—Annalou, 10; Annaliza, 4; and Aira Mae, 2—and her mother were still missing.

Sitio leader Philip Lumbre said 100 people from Mahusay remained missing, including Angeline’s mother and three siblings.

Rowena Versoza, 40, and Angeline’s aunt, said the girl mostly stayed with her because Tobias Jr. had to work.

“There were times when I just suppressed my emotions whenever I saw her alone and crying. There were several instances when she and her father would just stare at each other, both crying. It is very heartbreaking to see both father and daughter cry,” said Versoza, mother of 21-year-old Aldwin.

She would just ask her niece to go out and play with other children in the village so she could temporarily forget her pain.

Lorna Mabag, 36, offered flowers and candles for her five children during the Mass on Friday.

The bodies of Angel, 10; Rodel, 9; Rommel, 6; Ericar, 4; and Lena, 2, were buried in a mass grave in Barangay Basper, 14 kilometers from the city proper.

“Losing my five children in a snap could make any mother lose her sanity. I am just trying to be strong because of my husband and my three other children, who still need me,” said Mabag, trying to hold back her tears.

Her husband, Bonifacio, 45, and other children Rafael, 18; Abegail, 14; and Jonel, 11 months, whom she gave birth to on Nov. 14, live in a makeshift house in Sitio Mahusay.

In his homily, Father Villamil said the survivors had so much to be thankful for despite what Yolanda took from them.

“There is nothing more precious than life itself. We may have lost all our worldly possession but what is important is that we are all safe,” he said.

“This is the lesson we have learned from Yolanda,” he added.