Man travels for mom, and other ‘Undas’ tales

DAGUPAN CITY—Today, All Saints’ Day, Desmond Manaois will be traveling for eight hours on his motorcycle to the Sumaguing Cave in Sagada town in Mt. Province, to say a prayer for his mother, Eiren, who remains missing after she was swept away by rampaging waters inside the cave during a typhoon in 2013.

“I miss my mom,” said Manaois, 34. Eiren, who was then 49 years old and an official of the city population office here, was with 30 other tourists when monsoon rains caused the underground river to swell and flooded portions of the tunnels on Aug. 18, 2013.

She was last seen being dragged away by raging waters as the tourists, among them Japanese students, were rescued on Aug. 19.

Manaois said his mother was the only parent he knew until he was 15 years old. He was

only a baby when his parents broke up.

Still missing

“What I miss most about her is that she was a best friend to my two siblings and I. What I am today is how she raised me,” said Manaois, a provincial government employee.

Manaois had kept returning to the cave even after the search for his mother was called off on Aug. 28. “Many people are asking why I kept going there. And I tell them, ‘She’s my mother. And she’s still missing,’” he said.

Manaois said he traveled to Sagada the moment he was informed that his mother was missing on Aug. 19. “Kennon Road and Marcos Highway were closed then. I reached Sagada through Tagudin [town] in Ilocos Sur,” he said.

He said about a hundred people were searching for his mother when he entered the Sumaguing Cave. One of the 30 tourists told him that he saw Eiren holding on to a rope and was being pulled by rescuers.

“He told me that my mom was already safe. But Eiren extended the rope to two women and a man she saw waiting below,” Manaois said. It was then when the water surged like an ocean wave, sweeping Eiren away. The town reopened the caves to tourists after conducting a cleansing ritual.

Manaois said his mother’s eyeglasses, her camera and the key to her hotel room were all they recovered. “We have long accepted the fact that my mom is gone. We just want closure. We want to find her remains so that we can give her a proper burial,” he said.

Fish burial protocol

At the country’s first fish cemetery in Dagupan’s National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC), authorities have started requiring dead sea creatures to be wrapped with used fishing nets before these are buried.

The new burial protocol was introduced in May, said Westly Rosario, NIFTDC chief, to ease their exhumation for the collection of their bones.

“We want to assemble their bones and display these in the center for educational purposes,” said Rosario.

The fish cemetery was established in 1999. It has 28 dolphins, four whales and two sea turtles buried in a 1,312-square meter lot within the 26-hectare NIFTDC compound in Barangay Bonuan Binloc in Dagupan.

The dead sea creatures are identified by tomb stones neatly arranged in the cemetery.

Rosario said the fish cemetery has become the center’s most popular place for visitors. From January to October this year, the cemetery had 3,752 visitors.

Visitors would ask questions about the sea creatures and how they died, helping Rosario’s agency to create awareness about marine life protection.

“This year, we buried 10 dolphins, the most number we buried in a year since 1999,” Rosario said. The dolphins were among those found stranded on the beaches along the Lingayen Gulf from Bolinao town in Pangasinan to Aringay town in La Union.

Disappeared

In Zambales province, the mother of Karen Empeño, one of two University of Philippines students who have been missing since 2006, would be joining other relatives of the “Desaparecidos (The Disappeared)” to mark “All Souls’ Day” in Manila on Monday.

As in previous years, Concepcion Empeño, 65, would be lighting candles at Liwasang Bonifacio with hopes that her family would find closure regarding her daughter’s disappearance.

Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan were allegedly abducted by soldiers in Bulacan. Since 2014, retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and three other soldiers have been standing trial in a Bulacan regional trial court on charges of kidnapping and illegal detention.

“I’m hoping that the case would be over soon so we could already find the truth,” Concepcion, a retired school principal in Masinloc town, said in a text message on Saturday.

“Until now there’s no certainty as to where the case will lead us but despite that we will not get weary until justice is served,” she said. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Allan Macatuno, Inquirer Central Luzon