Boy, 9 went quarrying to buy himself a shirt

A 9-year-old boy was killed in San Fernando town in southern Cebu late Friday afternoon when a huge chunk of sand in a quarry site caved in and buried him and his uncle alive.

Jecan Geraldiso was rushed to the South General Hospital in Naga City where he was declared dead.

His uncle, Ponancio Alikaway, 31 was also taken to the same hospital and was later transferred to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City where he remains in critical condition.

The victims were extracting sand from the quarry site in sitio Malta in barangay Tinubdan when the accident happened at around 5:30 p.m.

Witnesses told Cebu Daily News that it took about an hour for rescuers to pull the boy’s body out as they only found out that he was also entombed in the rubble after Alikaway gestured that his nephew was with him.

“Siya man unang nakit-an. Pagpangutana namo kung kuyog ba niya si Ecan, ana siya nga ‘oo’ ug miingon kung asa. Gitabangan dayon namo ug kawot kung asa si Ecan,” Lorena Alikaway, a relative of the victims, told CDN.

(He was the one rescued first, When we asked him if Ecan was with him, he said ‘yes’ and told us where Ecan was. We immediately helped in shovelling off sand using our bare hands.)

No signs of life

Insp. Matt Reil Pono, fire marshall of the San Fernando Fire Station, said there were no signs of life when the child was recovered.

The boy’s uncle suffered a broken bone in the back and had difficulty breathing and is suffering from chest pains when CDN visited him at VSMMC.

Gemma Alikaway, the victim’s wife, said her husband was buried in 3-feet of sand and was pulled out by people who were also quarrying in the area in about 10 minutes.

She said her husband earns P10 for every sack of sand. He has been making a living out of sand quarrying for three years.

Jecan tagged along with his uncle in his desire to raise P199 to buy a shirt he saw when his 19-year-old sister Jeneth took him to a department store in Minglanilla last Monday.

“(He went quarrying) kay ganahan siya mopalit ug sanina,” Jeneth said as she recalled her brother saying “Nang, mopalit unya ko aning sanina ha?”

(He went quarrying because he wanted to buy the shirt. He even told me that he will soon buy that shirt)

The boy’s mother said she and her husband were at work when the accident happened.

“Luoy kaayo siya. Pag-adto namo sa morque, naay samad iyang nawong,” a teary-eyed Josephine said.

(I pity my son. When we saw him at the morgue, he has a wound in the face.)

SPO4 Victor Cuyno, desk officer at the San Fernando Municipal Police Station, said barangay tanods have been dissuading people from extracting sand in the area because it was “illegal and dangerous.”

“Mag-guerilla tactics man ni sila sa mga higayon nga dili sila mabantayan sa mga tanod,” he added.

(They engage in ‘guerilla tactics’ and come in when the village watchmen were not looking.)

Final wish granted

Jecan was supposed to be in fifth grade when schools open in June.

At the boy’s wake in the family’s home in barangay Tinubdan, Josephine showed off the black printed shirt that Jecan had wanted to buy.

The shirt will go with the boy in his final resting place.