CEBU CITY, Philippines—The bodies of three of five Cebuanos, who died in a sea tragedy in the Iloilo-Guimaras Strait on August 3, will be brought home here on Thursday, August 8, 2019.
The bodies of Romeo Baguio, Sr., Bernardo Janson, and Jared Janson are expected to arrive in Barangay Ermita in Cebu City on Thursday afternoon.
The bodies of Dannelle and Romnell Baguio are still missing.
The trip to Guimaras via Iloilo was arranged for Romeo Baguio Jr. to formally request for the blessing and support of the family of Maria Nieves Grandeza, as they have decided to get married.
Grandeza is a native of Guimaras province.
READ: Janson family awaits return of father, brother from Guimaras to Cebu
The group was filled with joy after a successful pamamanhikan. They had an overnight stay in Guimaras on Friday, August 2, before getting on another pump boat that was supposed to take them back to Iloilo City.
They left Guimaras for Iloilo City on Saturday, August 3.
The festive atmosphere filled with laughter was replaced with wails of sorrow as the pump boat that the six members of the Baguio family, Bernardo, Romeo Jr. and Grandeza’s three-year-old son, Jay Arvien, capsized on their way to Iloilo City.
From Iloilo City, the group was supposed to take another vessel that will bring them back home to Cebu City.
Two other motorised boats also capsized on August 3 raising the death toll to 31 individuals in the recent reports of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Office (NDRRMO).
The Baguio and Janson families will be waiting for the arrival of the victims’ bodies in Barangay Ermita.
The bodies will be transported by the Philippine Armed Forces’ C-13 cargo plane as requested by Mayor Edgardo Labella to Secretary Michael Dino, Presidential Assistant to the Visayas.
There will be a public wake at the Barangay Ermita gym. / celr