I watched the Bandila news report this evening and saw that the cabinet secretaries and other government officials could not hold back their tears while announcing that the body of DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo had been found trapped in the plane wreckage some 150 meters deep off the coast of Masbate. The bodies of Pilot Captain Jessup Bahinting and his very young co-pilot Kshitiz Ochad are still down there and hopefully would soon be retrieved tomorrow.
Secretary Robredo is well loved by his constituents in Naga where he served as mayor. His co-workers in government profess their admiration and respect for his good character and for being a leader by example.
We commisserate with their families, relatives, friends and co-workers with their great loss.
My family and I flew back to Manila from Iloilo this afternoon. It was a bit cloudy and the pilot switched on the fasten your seat belt sign a few times during the short 50 minutes flight. Twice, the purser reminded passengers to remain seated because we were experiencing turbulence. I was very nervous although the turbulence was very light. Although I travel a lot, super nerbyosa pa rin ako most especially kanina because I was so scared of what happened to Secreatry Robredo.
A family friend, Rene, told us that his father was one of the 4,375 fatalities in the MV Donya Paz sea disaster that happened on December 20, 1987 . His body was never found. Many families lose their loved ones without ever finding the body. There’s no closure and they would forever wonder what happened or where the person is. It would be extremely difficult to accept that the person is gone. Remember the two young sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong that were allegedly abducted, raped and killed in Cebu on July 16, 1997? I believe until now the body of one of the sisters has not been found.
When I die, I want to be buried in one piece in a cemetery or at a private place where my family could go and visit me once in a while.
By the way, Secretary Robredo and I celebrate the same birthday, May 27.
