The caskets bearing the remains of Edwin Canoy, his partner Merotchie Baring and daughter Mica Jane Baring at the Confreros Rosario Funeral Homes in Mawab, Davao de Oro on Wednesday, 14 February 2024. MIndaNews photo by IAN CARL ESPINOSA
MAWAB, Davao de Oro (MindaNews / 15 February) – At about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Confreros Rosario Funeral Homes here, Jeric Baring, 13, was dribbling a basketball near the coffins bearing the remains of his father, mother and sister, who were all killed in the February 6 landslide in Zone 1, Barangay Masara, Maco in Davao de Oro.
Jeric, the only one in his immediate family who survived the tragedy, and his relatives were waiting for the 2 p.m. burial ceremony for Edwin Canoy, 45, Merotchie Baring, 43, and Mica Jane Baring, 12, at the Mawab Public Cemetery. Edwin and Marotchie were not married, and Jeric is carrying the name of their mother.
His relatives and some other people can be heard talking about their lives before, during and after the tragedy. He was apparently distracting himself from the disheartening moment – dribbling the ball fast or slow, talking to his younger cousin Mel, stopped dribbling, re-tied his shoe laces, and dribbled the ball again.
He suppressed his tears as he glanced towards his loved ones’ coffins, but his voiced cracked when he spoke.
“Dili na ko mamalik didto [sa Masara], daghan nag nakalas nga kinabuhi (I don’t want to go back to Masara, many lives have been claimed there),” Jeric told Mindanews.
As of 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 14, the landslide claimed 85 lives and injured 32 others, with 38 still missing, data from the Maco municipal government showed.
Jeric recalled that three days ago, February 11, his parents and younger sister were found at the ground zero, where the family lives and operates a bakery.
Before the landslide happened, he recalled that he was instructed by her mother to charge her cellphone at his school because there was no electricity at their house.
Minutes later, Jeric would hear the roaring tumble of soil and boulders.
“Mao to, tabunan sila (I know they were buried),” Jeric said, holding back tears but with an assertive yet cracking voice.
Reynaldo Canoy, 33, said his nephew would cry heavily for hours after knowing that his family, indeed, went missing after the landslide. Canoy also cried with him as well.
“Luoy bataa, kay wala na’y papa ug mama. Gusto pa niya humanon ang pagskwela, luoy bataa (Pity the child, he has no more father and mother. He wanted to finish schooling,” Canoy said, also in a cracking tone.
“Kapoy na ko og kaguol. At least karon, naa na, nakita na sila (I am exhausted from sorrow. At least now, there is some relief as they have been found),” he added.
Canoy helped identify Jeric’s parents and sister.
Identifying his older brother, Canoy knew it was him because of his shorts, which Edwin, a baker, repeatedly wore.
For Marotchie’s cadaver, Canoy said he easily identified her because of the pendant she always wore, while Mica Jane’s face was still recognizable as she had only some bruises on her right cheek.
Canoy considered himself a survivor. He usually sleeps at his older brother’s house where he is employed as a bakery worker.
On February 5, a day before the landslide, he missed sleeping at his brother’s house because he needed to renew his health card in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, which is needed for their kind of work.
Canoy slept in his own family’s house, which is situated at Zone 2 in Barangay Masara.
“I am a part-time construction worker as well as a baker in the bakery near Apex Mining (Inc), meaning we are co-workers with my [older] brother Edwin,” he said in Cebuano.
Apex Mining operates in Barangay Masara. But it claimed the landslide area was outside its gold mining operations. Many mine workers were among those buried in the landslide, which buried three buses and a jeepney waiting to shuttle the employees then.
Concerned with Jeric’s future, his uncle said in Cebuano: “We will do our best to help him. I heard that he will be with his grandfather in Tagum for the meantime, but whenever he needs our support, we are ready to help him.”
Together with Jeric’s parents and younger sibling, six other cadavers found in ground zero were given free burial at the Mawab Public Cemetery on Wednesday, February 14. They are Nenimel Raganet, April Mae Raganet, Milijoy Gecoso, Ronald Lorica Sr., Ronald Lorica Jr., and John Rex Lorica. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
