Teacher drowns in storm’s wake

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines — A public school teacher drowned after being swept away by rampaging floods while crossing a spillway during the onslaught of Severe Tropical Storm Florita last Tuesday in Barangay San Roque, Bato, Camarines Sur.

Capt. Reymond Quinito, Bato Municipal Police Station officer-in-charge, identified the victim as Romeo Sison Jr., of Libmanan town and a faculty member of the San Roque High School in the town.

Gemmo Intia, the victim’s co-teacher, told investigators that he and Sison were riding a bicycle across the spillway at 5:45 p.m. when he was swept away by the force of the flash flood.

Sison tried to rescue him but was swept away himself.

Later at 7:45 p.m., police and responders from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council plucked Sison out of the water and rushed him to the Medical Mission Group Hospital in the adjacent town of Nabua. He was declared dead on arrival.

Mayflor Jumamil, Department of Education (DepEd) spokesman in Bicol, said he was still verifying information that Sison was on official leave when the accident happened.

“We will base our action from the official incident report that DepEd Camarines Sur will provide us,” Jumamil told The STAR.