Rescuers fished out from the Biasong River in the mountain Barangay of Bonbon in Cebu City the body of two siblings who drowned and went missing on Thursday night.
Neighbors first found the body Jesan, 5, at about 10 p.m. on Thursday or at least five hours after she and her brother Walter went missing.
Hours later rescuers from the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council also found the body of Walter, 7.
“Kanang lalaki, gisawom na gyod na didto sa lawom kaayo nga bahin sa tubig,” said P01 Juniel Rabago who lives in the area.
Maria Danhelen Billeta Perez, the victims mother, told police that she and her common-law-husband went to Sitio Biasong about 3 p.m. on Thursday to extract edible white meat from coconuts, to sell.
The Perez family lives in the nearby Sitio Loksoon.
Perez said that since her two kids later caught up with them she gave them young coconut meat to eat while they wait for them to finish their work.
At about 5 p.m., Perez said, the children asked permission to leave their work area so they could urinate.
Perez started to look for her children after noticing that they have not returned, said P03 Winston Ybañez of the Homicide Section of the Cebu City Police Office.
Ybañez said that Perez became even more worried when she saw their slippers and a toy floating on the river basin’s stagnant water.
The Biasong River basin is located inside a cave.
People in the area believe that the children may have slipped while urinating in the area and fell into the deep waters of the river basin.
Bonbon resident Nolasco Reyes found Jesan’s body after five hours of search. He used a bamboo pole to fish the body from the river basin.
City disaster rescuers later found Walter’s body.
Rabago said Perez kept on blaming herself for the death of her two children.
“Mangopras ra man gud intawon na sila unya wa lang gyod to sila kabantay sa ilang mga anak,” he added.
The remains of the two kids are now in a Cebu City funeral parlor.