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By Camille A. Bersola and Cris-Ann G. Odronia, Researchers
“Goodbye, Manila!”
These were the last words that Jennefer Nuqui,
21, said to her mother, Editha, before she boarded Princess of the
Stars bound for Cebu on June 20.
Since then, the elder Nuqui never heard from her
daughter until she learned about the tragedy that struck Princess on
June 21. The mother has been at the Sulpicio Lines office in North
Harbor, Manila, since Monday, waiting for news about Jennefer.
Sulpicio Lines owns the Princess and more than 20 other cargo and
passenger vessels.
But the distraught mother was starting to lose
her patience on Wednesday. “They [Sulpicio Lines officials] have
been hiding since Sunday. It’s as if we are waiting for
nothing.”
She said there was no other source of
information but the media and it was better to listen to radio news
for updates.
No official word
“We have not heard from anyone of them [Sulpicio].
We only rely on the media for information,” said Jose Dinaba,
uncle of Madelyn Gamis, 24, who was also a passenger on Princess. He
has been at the Sulpicio ticketing office in North Harbor since
Monday also, with other family members.
Like them, Bonifacio Postero has been waiting
also since Monday for bulletins on the passengers aboard Princess,
which carried his 22-year-old niece Gornalyn. He could no longer
keep his cool since, he said, there was still no confirmation on the
situation of his niece.
“They [Sulpicio officials] were surrendering
it [the responsibility] to the National Bureau of Investigation [NBI].
They were asking for documents and it would cost us much more
expenses,” explained Postero who was ranting about the statement
he just heard from the shipping lines’ officials. He said the
relatives of the passengers were being required to present copies of
birth certificate, NBI clearance and voter’s ID.
Postero was worried “they may do the same
thing as what they have done in the Orient [referring to the 1998
tragedy involving another Sulpicio Lines vessel]. There have been
many victims who had not been granted compensation. It happened a
number of times so it may possibly happen again.”
Treated like pigs
Lucy Samonte of Binangonan, Rizal, aunt of
Christie Marie, also a passenger on Princess, complained of another
issue. “Ginawa rin kaming baboy yung ulam na pinapakain sa amin
[We were made pigs with the meal that they fed us.]” Samonte said
they have been given by company officials an egg, a piece of ham,
and rice for breakfast.
Daily for three days now, most of the relatives
have been served a cup of rice and a few spoonfuls of spaghetti or
pancit to go with it.
Samonte said, “The Department of Social
Welfare and Development [DSWD] would always tell us they do not know
anything when we ask them for information, and they would refer us
to the police but they would tell us the same thing.”
Tower of frustration
Meanwhile, Levi Padua, 37, whose two relatives
were among the 862 passengers and crew aboard the capsized ferry,
climbed up a 60-foot tower beside the Sulpicio office out of
frustration.
Up the tower, he unfurled a list of demands
addressed to Sulpicio officials. After a few hours, authorities
convinced him to go down. Padua said he had to scale the tower
because he saw no actions being done by the shipping firm. One of
his demands was for the company to bring him and the families of the
other victims to Cebu so they could help identify their relatives’
bodies that were retrieved.
Most of the relatives of the passengers have
been told that the bodies would be brought to Cebu and that two
relatives for each passenger would be given free tickets to Cebu.
Nely Lopez, 43, mother of Gamis, was seething
with anger after hearing an official of the Sulpicio Lines. “I do
not see any reason why we still had to present the documents they
require. Why can’t they just provide us with the transportation,
and we will be the ones to identify our own family members there?”
“They have already released the names of the
survivors but why can’t they tell us which ones have died? They
could have just shown us the pictures of the bodies if they cannot
bring them here for us to see if we have one of our family members
there.”
Most of the family members have been patiently
waiting since Monday after hearing the news about the ferry disaster
on Saturday.
With all the mixed emotions of frustrations,
anger and misery, most of the relatives still keep their hopes up
that they may still see their loved ones, as they were when they
waved goodbye to them.
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