2 drown, 1 missing in Bontoc incidents

By Francis Degay

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Two persons drowned here Aug. 30 in separate incidents at Sitio Mat-eo, Barangay Alab and Paling, Bontoc Ili.

Three year old Daren Cariaga Guing-awan of Alab was rushed to the Bontoc General Hospital after she was retrieved in a deep well in the same barangay but was pronounced dead on arrival by the attending physician.

The story gathered by the police revealed that their mother left the victim and her two-year old brother under the care of their grandmother Julia Cariaga while the former went to visit her husband who was confined at the BGH.

Cariaga said the two kids were playing at the second floor of her house but found out later the victim drowned.

Police and the Bontoc Emergency Response Team rushed to Paling when they received another call of a drowning accident.

The police blotter revealed four students from the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College here went for a picnic along the Chico River bank.

They were identified as Decil Velliena, Melody Tomad, Novemia Behig and the victim Cresencio Abayan.

After their snack around 3:30 p.m., the group swam in the nearby river but leaving Behig.
Velliena swam along the still and shallow water while Tomad and the victim went to the upper stream.

Both were carried down by a strong current. A male bystander was able to retrieve Tomad alive except for Ablayan.

At about 1:15 p.m. the following day, the dead body of Abayan was recovered within in Paling and was brought to the BGH for post mortem examination.

Attending physician Diga Gomez, disclosed the cause of death of Abayan was drowning.

In a separate incident, a police team from the Bontoc police rushed to Barangay Gonogon on Sept. 1 after receiving a report from a certain Andrew Bacala that his neighbor identified as one Gali Palitayan, 90, was still missing since last August 27.

Based on a police report, a certain Miling, who is a relative of the victim, discovered what happened through Pia, daughter of the latter through sign language.

Pia is deaf and suffering from polio disease. According to Milling, in the morning of Aug. 27, the victim and Pia went to harvest palay at Sitio Kumabkab, Gonogon.

However, in the afternoon of the same day Gali did not go home.

Three days after the incident concerned citizens of Gonogon and members of the Philippine Army based in the barangay conducted search and rescue operations.

The rescuers found palay harvested by the victim that was properly laid below a stone wall, a few steps away from the Chico River.

Search and rescue operations were still ongoing as of press time.

Bontoc Police Chief Marcial Fa-ed said rescue and search operations were in the incidents were hampered by lack of gadgets such as oxygen tank with complete accessories that could have been utilized in diving operations.

Faed thanked the cooperation of responding teams from the BEST, Bureau of Fire, provincial police office, BGH, Philippine Army, MPSPC and barangay volunteers.

He said that in the past these volunteers rushed immediately to the site upon information of accidents.