Manolo Magalso carefully moves about in the rubble where his home in barangay Solonggon, La Libertad town, once stood. Amid dimming hopes he looks for clues on where to dig for the bodies of his wife Lorna, 32, and children John Marc, 8, Jira Mae, 6 and Charity Joy, 8 months.
Manolo, 33, was plowing his field nearby when the magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck last Monday at 11:49 a.m.
“When the ground started shaking, I looked at my house and saw the mountain above it slide and cover my house with my family inside it. I could only watch and cry,” Manolo said trying to keep a brave face.
Manolo and his siblings lived on the mountain slope in barangay Solonggon. Elder brother Primitivo, 47, also lost his two daughters Shiela May, 16 and Kristel Jane, 15.
Another brother Wilson, 45, lost his home but saved his family.
A total of 43 residents of this mountainside were buried by the landslide.
As of Tuesday afternoon, rescuers from the Philippine Army, the Provincial government, the police, and the local government unit, dug up only the body of Cindy Lisondra. Cindy, 21, managed a text message to her boyfriend from under the rubble.
Her boyfriend led rescuers to her position. But it was a little too late.
Gov. Roel Degamo dispatched the Negros Oriental Search and Rescue Team to barangay Solonggon, to complement rescue teams from the PNP, the Army and from some local government units.
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