Appeal to Coast Guard: Keep on searching

RELATIVES of the passengers of the MV St. Thomas Aquinas who are still unaccounted for renewed their appeal to the authorities to continue searching for their missing kin.

The coast guard on Tuesday approved the termination of the undersea search, but said a recovery team will be on standby.

“We also need to be sensitive to the families that is why we have standby technical divers,” Cmdr Weniel Azcuna, chief of the Philippine Coast Guard Cebu Station, said,

Mercedita Canas, whose daughter Dionadisa is among the 21 missing, told Cebu Daily News, “It’s their obligation, they need to continue the operation.”

Eduard Libanon, whose wife and children aged five and two remain missing, said he just wants to bring his family back home to Valenzuela City in Metro Manila.

“Maawa naman sila sa amin,” he said.

Carmelito delos Arcos, who was carrying a board with pictures of his five-year-old nephew, Arkhi Gian Yee, said he hopes to find justice while President Aquino is still in office.

“I hope that during the administration of our president, there will be justice for us and the responsible ship captain will be imprisoned,” he said.

He said his nephew was already wearing a life jacket when he got separated in the commotion that ensued as the ship started sinking. The boy’s grandparents survived the accident

“I will continue to make more (flyers and signboards) and give it to people I meet. I won’t get tired walking around Cebu to look for my nephew,” delos Arcos, who is from Cagayan de Oro City, said. /Correspondents Michelle Joy Padayhag and Jose Santino Bunachita