EDMUNDO Bureros can’t forget his 13-year-old son.
He said he sometimes wakes up at dawn thinking about the boy or goes to an unlit part of the neighborhood, hoping to catch even a glimpse of Ralph’s ghost.
The boy was killed more than two months ago when a concrete utility pole of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) fell on him after a passing truck snagged overhead wires and pulled down the pole in barangay Tinago, Cebu City.
Edmundo Bureros holds a photo of his son who was killed after he got toppled down by an electric post in barangay Tinago. (CDN PHOTO APPLE MAE TA-AS)
“Ganahan ra jud ko makakita niya. Papa ra gud ko nga gimingaw gud, di sad ko mahadlok kung magpakita siya kay ako gud nang anak (I just want to see him. I’m his father and I just miss him so much.
I am not afraid if he ever shows up in spirit because he’s my son),” he added.
The boy was eating near a barbecue stand under the street lights when the freak accident happened in the evening.
A piece of the wooden bench that he was sitting on pierced his chest. He also broke his right leg and was electrocuted. He was pronounced dead at the Cebu City Medical Center.
Two girls were also injured in the incident, which sparked calls for utility companies to fix or remove their dangling wires.
Edmundo said he visits his son’s grave every Monday. When he can’t visit, he goes to the Metropolitan Cathedral to request for prayers for his son during Mass.
“Di man jud mawa ang kamingaw. Usahay makamata rakog kadlawon sigeg hunahuna sa akong anak (I miss him. Sometimes I find myself waking up at dawn thinking of my son),” a teary-eyed Edmundo told Cebu Daily News.
He said his other children had reported seeing Ralph’s ghost but he hasn’t had that consolation.
The father lamented that other people seem to have forgotten what happened to Ralph.
“Karon wala naman kaayo kisaw kay humana man. Kami nalay nahabilin muhinumdum niya (The controversy has died down. We are the only ones who remember him),” said Edmundo.
Edmundo and his wife declined to sue any of the utilities and accepted a settlement.
They received P10,000 cash from the Visayan Electric Co., which was the first to respond to the accident, thinking that the pole belonged to them and P15,000 from PLDT.
Edmundo said, however, that the funds were not enough. The family still owes a funeral parlor P8,000.
Cebu City North Rep. Raul del Mar had promised to give financial assistance, but Edmundo said he has yet to receive the money.