Landslide survivors implore Sto. Niño’s help

STO NINO VISIT/ SEPT 26,2018: Landslide survivors weeps duting a visit of the image of Senior Sto Nino at the Naga City evacuation center. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

ERLINDA Sabellano, 44, burst into tears as she saw the image of the Sr. Sto. Niño being brought into the Enan Chiong Activity Center in Naga City where she and other landslide victims are staying past 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

Sabellano said she is very grateful that she, her husband Romeo, 46, and their children Ronnie, 7, and Roxanne, 6, were still alive.

“Mapasalamaton lang gyud kaayo ko nga naluwas mi,” she told Cebu Daily News.

Sabellano is among the hundreds of landslide victims who have been crowding the evacuation center in Barangay Poblacion, Naga City, for six days now.

Rev. Fr. Pacifico Nohara Jr., OSA, said he decided to bring the Sto. Niño image to the evacuation center for a short visit to give landslide victims hope and to help them “nourish their spirituality” following the tragedy which claimed the lives of many of their family members on September 20.

“Nasayod ta sa ilang kagol-anan, sa ilang kagutom. Pero samtang mahatagan sila og pagkaon ug sa uban nilang panginahanglan, ato usab silang busgon spiritually (We all know of their sufferings, hunger. But while we provide them with food and their other needs, we also need to feed them spiritually),” he told CDN.

Nohara earlier accompanied the miraculous image to a short visit at the Carmen Copper Compound (CCC) in Barangay Don Andres Soriano (DAS), Toledo City. It was the same image that the basilica would use in the fluvial procession held ahead of the Sto. Niño’s annual fiesta celebration.
The Sto. Niño’s visit is part of CCC’s celebration of the 14th year of their incorporation.

CCC is a subsidiary of the Atlast Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation (ACMDC).

Before leaving the CCC compound shortly after 5 p.m., Nohara decided to bring the Sto. Niño for a short visit at the Enan Chiong Activity Center, on its way back to the basilica.

The visit was unannounced.

The elderly women burst into tears when they saw basilica and CCC employees carry the glass casing which contained the image into the activity center at around 5:30 p.m.

Evacuees then crowded the Sto. Niño while they cried. They started to wave their hands as the Gozos was being played.

To prevent commotion, security personnel inside the center asked evacuees to form a single line so they can come close, touch and kiss the Sto. Niño’s glass casing.

Sabellano wiped her eyes with a face towel while she cried. She said that she is very thankful that they survived the landslide unharmed.

The mother of two said that she was already preparing breakfast for her two children when she heard the thundering sound of loose soil from the mountain village of Tagaytay and covered several homes in Sitio Sindulan where she lives.

Although scared, Sabellano said she immediately woke her husband and children up so they can leave their home.

“Wala gyud mi nadala (We were unable to bring anything),” she said.

Sabellano said that while their home was not reached by the landslide, they are already barred from going back to Sitio Sindulan to retrieve their
belongings.

Like Sabellano, Grace Ocampo, 50, was also grateful that she escaped the landslide
unharmed.

Ocampo, a widow, said that her home is built close to the Sindulan road and was just a few meters away from the landslide area.

But she lamented that many of her relatives including the seven members of the Campanilla family that were already buried on Tuesday perished from the landslide.

“Swerte lang gyud mi nga wala mi naapil kay na layo ra ang among gi puy-an sa natagakan sa yuta pero daghan sa among mga paryente ang namatay.

Mga paryentehay ra man mi diha nga lugar (We are very lucky to have survived because loose soil spared my home but many of my relatives died. I am related to other residents in the area),” she said.

“Maayo gyud kaayo nga gi duaw mi sa Sto. Nino kay grabe na gyud kaayo ang kapait nga among naagi-an (I am very glad of the Sto. Niño’s visit because of the sufferings that we are now going through),” said Ocampo.

In a short message, Nohara told landslide victims to never lose hope in God who is the sole owner of human life.

“Kami ni hapit karon aron sa paghatag ug pagtoo ug pag-laum nga mosalig kamo kaniya kay wala gyud tay mahino og wala siya (We are here to give you faith and hope to continue to trust in God because there is nothing that we can do on our own),” Nohara said.

He asked the people to continue to pray for graces.

“Padayon sa inyong pag pangayo kaniya sa grasya nga inyong gustong makab-ot kay naa ra siya,” he said.