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“Just pray for me.”
These were among the last words Michelle
Goyerechea, 21, spoke to her husband as the doomed MV Princess of
the Stars left the port of Manila.
Hours after that conversation, the four-month
pregnant Michelle would disappear along with hundreds other
passengers and crew with the sinking of the inter-island ferry.
Her husband, Mark Anthony Barrozo, says he
wanted to her to get off the boat. It was too late. The ferry was
already sailing off.
Mark Anthony had been looking forward to the
birth of their child in November. Now, he, like hundreds of others,
is only hoping to find her body before it decomposes beyond
recognition.
He traveled from Manila, first to Masbate and
then to Sibuyan Island, searching for her cadaver. In Sibuyan, he
was lucky enough to have caught Transportation Undersecretary Lhen
Bautista, who helped him secure the cooperation of the ferry’s
owner, Sulpicio Lines.
Rescue teams have so far either retrieved or
located some 180 bodies of victims. The ill-fated ferry capsized as
Typhoon Frank battered the central Philippine region.
At least six of those were retrieved from inside
the ship now lying bottom-side-up just 200 meters from the shoreline
of Sibuyan, the front end jutting slightly up from the azure waters.
That was before retrieval operations were halted over reports that
pesticides the ship was carrying could be harmful to the divers.
Seen from a Philippine Air Force helicopter
approaching Sibuyan five days after the tragedy, the waters looked
calm and inviting.
It was difficult to imagine how, just days
earlier, the sea had mercilessly battered the ferry before finally
sinking her.
Despite the cooperative weather, though,
retrieving bodies was difficult.
Not only are they spread out in a vast body of
water, government only has so much resources—rescuers, equipment,
helicopters and fuel—to devote to the operation.
I hitched a ride on the Presidential helicopter
from Tablas Island to Sibuyan. Even it was used in the first days of
the operations. It had three three-hour runs in the waters around
Romblon and Masbate.
Rounds like this allowed the Navy, Coast Guard
and Air Force to spot over 100 bodies—all wearing life vests from
the sunken ferry—floating in the middle of the sea. All they need
to do is get to them.
The Coast Guard’s regional commander,
Commodore Cecil Chen, said the trouble is that they look close
together from the air but they are actually far apart in the water.
Having only one Sikorski helicopter capable of
picking up cadavers floating in the water results in a slow
operation. The other choppers fly from island to island picking up
bodies delicately wrapped in thin blue sheets and deposit them in
the nearest command post.
Maj. Gen. Delfin Bangit acknowledges that it was
a costly operation, whishing that they had more resources for it.
Authorities had appealed for local fishermen to
help bring the bodies ashore. He designated a coastal municipality
in Quezon province as a repository for bodies retrieved in the
shorelines.
We have to acknowledge that Sulpicio Lines is
helping, even if we hear more complaints—like Mark
Anthony’s—than praise. Two of its passenger ferries are on
standby to carry the cadavers to Cebu, where many of their relatives
are waiting.
Divers retrieving bodies from inside the
wreckage are the most praise-worthy of all.
BRP Pampanga skipper Innocencio Rosario has so
much respect for the dead that he “asks permission” before
taking hold of the corpse to bring back to the surface. Fellow diver
Anthony Casajeros nearly lost his life when he ran out of oxygen 120
feet underwater.
Despite these challenges, the retrieval
operations went on until halted by the discovery that a toxic
pesticide aboard the ship when it sank could contaminate the waters.
Tragedies are always a source of sorrow but they
could also be a source of strength.
There may be no one stronger than the unnamed
men and women in the rescue team combing the seas to locate the
fatalities or relatives—like Mark Anthony—who will stop at
nothing to be reunited with their deceased beloved.
Let us pray for the triumph of their endeavor as
well as for the departed.
johnnavg@hotmail.com
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