Resident of Sitio Camogao, Barangay Tambulan, Tayasan town in Negros Oriental work together to remove the body of a woman who was crushed by a boulder, which fell on her as she was digging a hole on November 4. | Contributed photo via Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A 34-year-old woman was crushed by an estimated 1 ton boulder that fell on her as she was trying to find a way to let it fall on a hole so that she could have a level ground to extend her family’s house in Sitio Camogao, Barangay Tambulan, Tayasan town in Negros Oriental.
The plan of the victim’s famly was to push the boulder into a hole that she and her family had dug so that they could have more level space for the extension of their house’s terrace.
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What they want to do with the boulder
When the boulder would be inside the hole, they would then fill it with soil thereby, having a level ground that they could use.
After finishing digging the hole in front of the boulder, they would then dig the soil at the base of the boulder so that it would loosen and they could push it into the hole.
But then on that fateful day of November 4, the victim identified by the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office, in a report, as Vigil Cuevas, was left alone in the hole and digging at the base of the boulder since her husband Bengie Cuevas went to buy sugar and coffee.
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Boulder weighed at least 1 ton
This was according to Barangay Councilor Edwin Callet of Tambulan, in an interview on November 4 with Lawyer Ruphil Bañoc in his program Straight to the Point at dyHP, that the boulder was estimated to be at least a ton in weight.
Callet also said that earlier the mother-in-law of Vigil told her to stop digging because the boulder was already loosened.
“Giingnan na to siya sa iyang ugangan nga hununga na unya niingon man pod kuno siya na kani na lang ang iyang tiwason,” said Callet.
(Her mother-in-law told her to stop digging already, but she told her that she will just finish this.)
So she went into the hole and continued digging near the base of the boulder.
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Children saw her crushed by boulder
Callet said that she was the only one there in the hole and her four children, whose ages are seven years old, five years old, three-years-old and her 11-month-old child were staying in an area where they could see their mother in the hole.
Then the boulder suddenly fell into the hole falling on Vigil, hitting her from behind and crushing her.
The seven-year-old child rushed to get help but then it was already too late.
Callet said that it took a lot of people using ropes and wood as lever to to lift the boulder and remove the body of the victim.
According to Police Executive Master Sergeant Charliven Gantalao, spokesman and deputy chief of the Tayasan Police Station, that the victim must have miscalculated in digging inside the hole.
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Miscalculated
“Nasipyat gyod to. Kay dapat unta to diri sa kilid [ang kawot] buhan inig ka lawom na ligwatan ra to siya para moadto sa bangag,” said Gantalao in a phone interview with CDN Digital
(She miscalculated. Because [with the hole there] she would have dug at the side of the base of the boulder and then the hole at the side of the boulder would be enough. They would just use a piece of wood as a lever to push the boulder into the big hole.
Barangay Councilor Callet said that the body of the victim was still at the funeral parlor [as of evening of November 4] and the wake of the victim would be held at house of husband’s father in Barangay Tambulan.