Bodies retrieved from passenger ferry arrive in Cebu

CEBU CITY – Bodies retrieved from the wreckage of M/V Princess of the Stars and from waters off Sibuyan Island in Romblon arrived at Pier 6 here yesterday.

Police imposed tight security at the port and prevented relatives from going near the area where 49 bodies loaded in three 10-foot container vans arrived on board a ship from Romblon.

Quarantine workers wearing gas masks sprayed disinfectant chemicals to lessen the odor of the decomposing bodies transferred by morgue employees to waiting trucks.

A 16-man team of forensic experts from the National Bureau of Investigation led by Dr. Renato Bautista started their task of identifying the bodies brought to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Junquera Street, where the relatives were allowed to wait.

Relatives identified only six bodies so far. Among those identified were Senior Police Officer 3 Adolfo Villareal, Esmeralda Lequigan, Jovelyn Requilme, Julie Mendoza, Roel Lariba and Rossel Bucas.

Authorities have set up an action center at the Cebu City Sports Complex to accommodate relatives of victims of the ill-fated Princess of the Stars that capsized off Romblon last Saturday at the height of typhoon “Frank.”

More than 140 bodies were recovered while over 800 remained missing. More than 50 survivors were rescued.

The city government hired buses to transport relatives to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Parlor to help the NBI identify the bodies.

Ryan Bernard Go, vice president for deck maintenance of Sulpicio Lines, said the morgue employees were instructed not to remove any clothing, jewelry and other items from the bodies so that relatives can easily identify the victims.

“We asked the relatives of the victims to be patient. As long as they have the proper documents we’ll release the bodies to them and we’ll take care of the families,” Go said, adding that what they need now is cooperation by following instructions issued by the action center.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development had asked the relatives to fill up forms that would help identify the bodies.

Social workers are also conducting screening, evaluation and counseling sessions for the relatives.

Ensign Erwin Nacario of the Philippine Coast Guard said as of yesterday afternoon, they had recovered 129 bodies and rescued 58 survivors.

Presidential Management Staff head Cerge Remonde, who is a Cebuano, was sent by President Arroyo to supervise the operation in Cebu.

Remonde said the President expressed sadness over what  happened and promised to be with them.

Meanwhile, the parents of Vernie Cayanan, 21, one of the reported missing victims of the Princess of the Stars tragedy, are still hoping that their son is still alive.

Lucila and Virgilio Cayanan of San Luis, Pampanga, said their son, who had just graduated from the Technical Institute of the Philippines (TIP) in Manila, was on board the ship to take part in a one-year apprenticeship program.

Lucila said Vernie had sent her a text message at around 6:05 a.m. last June 21 assuring her that he was safe.

She said at about 6:09 a.m. on the same day, her son sent another text message informing them that the waves were gigantic, but still he assured his parents that he was safe.

“A few hours later, the lines went dead,” said Lucila.

The Cayanan couple went to the Sulpicio Lines office at North Harbor in Manila and confirmed that their son was among the passengers of the ill-fated ship.

“We are still hoping that our son is alive. We are exhausted trying to call Sulpicio Lines, they could not even give us the assurance that we might still see our son,” Lucila said.

Jimmy Relativo, a survivor of the ferry, sits on the shoreline of San Fernando in Sibuyan Island, just meters away from the sunken Princess of the Stars that is now his pregnant fiance’s tomb.

He has returned to Sibuyan Island hoping for word about the fate of his 22-year-old fiance Rosielyn Ligay, who was carrying his unborn child when the fateful ferry went down last Saturday.

“I don’t know if I can move on. It’s very painful but the search should go on. There are still many people inside the boat, not only my wife,” he said.

The couple had boarded the Princess of the Stars in Manila bound for Cebu last Friday to tell Ligay’s father of their plans to get married and start a family.

They had taken the weekend off from their jobs in Manila, where Rosielyn works as a mall sales lady and Relativo, 26, is a bakeshop employee.

“It was around nine in the morning when the ferry started to be battered by huge waves,” Relativo said between sobs. “We were holding each other tightly and Rosielyn told me to prepare.

“By noon, the ferry had listed on to its side. The next thing we knew, we were sinking,” he said.

Painstakingly, he recalls the last moment he saw the mother of his child.

“I thought we both jumped off the ferry but when I looked back she was still holding the rails on the side... terrified.

“I shouted at her but I was hit by a wave. When I surfaced, she was gone,” Relativo said, choking back tears.

Relativo said he did not want to abandon his fiance but realized he needed to save himself. He said some people had managed to get on a life raft and they dragged him on.

Twenty-four hours after the Princess of the Stars went down the raft Relativo was on washed up on the coast of Mulanay, Quezon, about 90 kilometers from the scene of the disaster. – With Ric Sapnu