NAGA LANDSLIDE: One family, 7 members, laid to rest today
Jenessa Campanilla’s coffin, mostly along with that of her husband and five children, lie in state at the badminton covered court in Naga City. Their remains will be buried today, Sept. 24, 2018, together with the other identified casualties of the landslide that bit the Sitio Sindulan, Barangay Tinaan, Naga City on Sept. 20, 2018.
CDN photo/Zena V. Magto, USJ-R intern
The seven members of the Campanilla family who perished in the massive landslide that hit Sitio Sindulan, Barangay Tinaan in Naga City, Cebu last Thursday will be laid to rest today, September 24.
Jenessa Campanilla, 32, one of the fatalities, was still able to send a message to her relatives via Facebook that they were alive and waiting for help on Thursday afternoon, or hours after the landslide buried her and about 50 other houses at around 6 a.m. of that day.
But on Friday afternoon, Jenessa’s body was retrieved from their home along with that of her husband, Lemuel, 33, and of five of their six children – Jemuel, 12; Jillian, 12 and Jemuel’s twin sister; Jasmine, 10; Janine, 5; and Mark Laurence, 3. The sixth unaccounted for child was Jazwel Jave, 8.
“It is very painful for a mother to lose a daughter and all of my grandchildren. But I have no other choice but to accept what it is,” Gemma Aliganga, Jenessa’s mother, told Cebu Daily News in Cebuano on Sunday.
A funeral Mass will be held at the city’s badminton covered court this afternoon for the Campanilla family and the other casualties of the landslide.
Aliganga, on Sunday afternoon, said they were still waiting for the confirmation from the church regarding the time of the funeral service.
The bodies will be laid to rest at the Public Catholic Cemetery in Barangay Naalad, Naga City.
Missing Jazwel
Aliganga said it was more painful for them, as they were still waiting for the retrieval of the body Jazwel Jave, who remained missing even as of late Sunday.
Aliganga added they have already lost hope that Jazwel Jave could still be found alive.
Although she said she did not blame anyone for the multiple deaths in their family, Aliganga said she regretted not being able to help in the search and rescue of her daughter and her family.
“I wanted to be in the area and guide them where their house was but we were not allowed to enter the landslide area because the soil was still loose,” said the 52-year-old Aliganga.
“She was still able to commumicate to us during the first day. We could’ve saved her that day,” said a tearful Aligangan.
However, Aliganga said they were still glad that at least they were able to recover the remains of their loved ones and give them decent burial.
“We cannot do anything about it because no one wanted this to happen. It is [the] nature that did this to the people,” said Aliganga.
But Aliganga also echoed the general sentiment in their community that the quarry operations in the nearby Sitio Tagaytay might have triggered the tragedy from happening.
“Had there not been quarry operations in the area, the mountains should have not cracked and the soil should have not loosen,” Aliganga said.
Mining suspension
Following his visit in the landslide area on Friday, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu ordered the suspension of all quarry and mining activities in eight regions in the country, including Central Visayas.
Cimatu also suspended the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) of Apo Land and Quarry Corporation (ALQC), the company that has mining rights in several areas of Barangay Tinaan supplying aggregate materials to Apo Cement Corp., which operates one of the largest cement factories in the country from its base in Naga City.
ALQC representative Chito Mañago earlier said that they have not started any operation in the area yet.
He added that their operation in Sitio Tagaytay was only limited to road access development in preparation for the start of their mining
activity.
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