Parents blame PCG, shipping firm for son’s death in sea accident
Credit to Author: ERNIE B. ESCONDE| Date: Tue, 06 Aug 2019 17:12:21 +0000
SAMAL, Bataan: Parents of a school teacher here on Tuesday blamed the Philippine Coast Guard and the shipping firm for his death among 30 others in the Iloilo – Guimaras sea tragedy last Saturday.
(I am appealing to President Duterte, the senators, the Vice President, that if possible, this system should not be repeated. The coast guard and the owners of the boat didn’t know what they were doing. A lot of lives were lost because of their negligence.)
Andrew’s mother, Corazon Valenzuela, 62, called on those concerned.
“Sa kinauukulan sa pangyayaring hindi dapat nadisgrasya ang anak ko, panagutan ninyo pangyayari. Alam ninyo na hindi maganda panahon, may dalawang bangka nang nadisgrasya, bakit pinatuloy pa ninyo vessel na sinasakyan ng anak ko sampu ng kanyang mga kasama,” she said.
(Why didn’t they give my son the boat that he was originally scheduled to ride. He and his companions should have taken a bigger boat, as what had been agreed and paid for, but what was given was a smaller boat.)
She said the contract called for 10 bancas to guide the boat of Andrew’s group.
The mother said Andrew arrived in Bataan from Abu Dhabi last July 7 and left for Cebu, Bohol and Iloilo on July 29. He was supposed to leave for UAE on August 20, 2019.
She recalled how happy they were days before Andrew left for Iloilo. “Nagbonding-bonding kaming pamilya. Magkakasama kami, tuwang-tuwa si Andrew,” the mother said.