Please don’t judge us, pleads mother of kid who drowned in Dalaguete

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu—The mother of the seven-year-old girl from Mandaue City who was said to have drowned in a three-feet deep pool of a resort in Dalaguete town, southern Cebu is pleading to the public not to blame her for the incident.

The victim’s mother, who asked not to be named, said that there wasn’t negligence on her part and insisted that the incident, which happened during a family outing last Sunday morning, November 28, 2021, was just an accident.

READ: Family outing turns into tragedy: 7-year-old drowns in 3-feet-deep pool

“Makaingun jud ko disgrasya lang. Kaming ginikanan, wala mi nagkuan tuyuon nga ma ingun ana. Bisan gani matugdunan nag lamok amo manggale nang [bugawon], tanang pagkaon nga amoang ihatag nila kutob sa among mahatag nila amo gyud na ihatag basta nutritious lang. Walay ginikanan nga malipay oy. Unya ibash pa, wala gale sila didto,” she said.

(I can say it was really an accident. We, the parents, we never wanted any of this to happen. We even protect them from mosquitoes and we give them, as much as we can, nutritious food. No parent will be happy with what happened and still we are being bashed when in fact they weren’t even there when it happened.) 

The child is scheduled to be laid to rest on Sunday, December 5. Her wake is at their house in Barangay Paknaan, here.

The mother also told CDN Digital that she believes her child may have hit her head in a hard object somewhere before she fell into the pool. This as they noticed bruises on the right side of her head.

“Ang amoa ani based sa pagbalsamar niya estorya sad nga ni jump ang bata. Pagbalsamar, kita gyud mi dapit sa iya right side sa ulo naa gyud siyay lagom, murag niaksyon siyag burot. Basin na slide or napakong pag jump,” she said.

(We based it during embalming and with what we heard from others that the kid jumped from somewhere. During embalming, we saw that there was a bruise that was swollen. She might have slid or hit her head when she jumped.) 

She said she was hoping that the resort, considering how big it was, had personnel roaming around with a megaphone or whistle as they would have noticed a kid without companion in the pool. 

She added that CCTV cameras would have also been helpful as this would have shed light on what really happened. 

The family has yet to discuss any plans of filing complaints against the resort.

She also said they did not have their child  autopsied because it was too much for them to take.

Meanwhile, the city government said it will give assistance to the victim’s family. 

/bmjo