A mother’s nightmare

MAPANDAN – “My world crumbled. They were everything to me.”

Wailing, Josephine Abellera, said this as she grieves the loss of her only two children, Richard John, 7, and Ryan Christian, 6, who drowned to their death on November 4 in Angalacan River near their residence in Barangay Baloling here.

“Impabayes na Diyos labat manaya ya agano irayay anak ko ed siyak (God lent me my two kids for just a while),” she told The PUNCH Tuesday.

That tragic day, Richard John, a grade two pupil in Baloling Elementary School, was to stand as ring bearer in a wedding in Dagupan City.

Josie, preparing their things for the wedding, said yes to her two sons when they asked permission to take a bath, thinking they meant washing themselves at their home’s water pump. Too late did she learn that her sons went to the river, about 300 meters away from their house – something they never did before.

At around 11:30 a.m., their neighbors found the children’s slippers at the river bank and brought these to Josie.

She immediately ran towards the river, believing she might still be able to rescue them. Barangay folks had to hold her back from going too far out into the water, which was already neck-deep close to the embankment.

“Diad sakey labat ya momento, biglan alusbo su mundok (In an instant, my world fell apart),” she tearfully said.

A four- year old playmate, Aldwin Manaois, also a relative of the victims, was with the two at the river, but did not go into the water. Shocked but was later able to talk, he related the events to the family.

With the help of neighbors and the responding police, Richard’s body was recovered around 1:30 p.m. that same day. Ryan’s was found the following day around 8:30 a.m. along the river in Casibong, San Jacinto town.

Feeling useless

 Josie said she did not have any premonition about her kids’ untimely death and felt like a useless mother who was unable to protect her sons.

“I was always with them. I drove them in our trike (a bicycle with a sidecar) going to and from school. People were used to seeing us three together anywhere, anytime. Even while they were sleeping, I would watch over them,” she said in the vernacular.

Josie’s husband, Rey, 42, working as a heavy equipment mechanic in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has been informed of the tragedy and is due to come home for the burial.

“Our attention was focused on them. We wanted to give everything to them. They were our world,” Josie said.

Rey was home earlier this year and the family spent May 1, celebrated as the day for Pista’y  Dayat  (Sea Festival) in Pangasinan, at the river. Since then, the kids have never gone back to the area, Josie said.

“Kailangan matatag ak anggan agko la anta no panon ak lamet ya ongapo ed  bilay. Wadtan ni asawak ya nepeg kon asikasoen (I should be strong, although I don’t know how to live again. My husband is still there for me and I should take care of him),” she said. — EVA

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