Landslide kills 13 of vendor’s family

MACO, Davao de Oro (MindaNews)—With tons of mud and debris rendering Barangay Masara of this municipality uninhabitable, the burden weighs heavier on homemaker Nenita Raganet, 54.

The landslide has taken afternoon. away 13 of her family members: 3 children, 2 children-in-law, 8 grandchildren. As of Monday

(Feb. 12), only seven of them have been found.

As Nita arrives at the incident command post

(ICP) in neighboring Barangay Elizalde on Monday morning, she carries granddaughter Jessa Mae, barely two years old. Both her parents (Ramil Raganet, 28, and Angel Mabandos, 26) and only sister

Ramela, 5, were buried under the rubble.

Nita is headed to the

Management of the Dead and Missing (MDM) compound at the Elizalde ICP to retrieve the death certificate of her granddaughter,

Mil Joy Sereño, 12, whose body was found Sunday

Mil Joy would have been 13 in August.

In Mil Joy’s immediate family, only her father, Joey Marie Sereño, 39, is alive, but bears the trauma of losing most of his family. Mil Joy’s mother Nenemil Raganet, 33 (Nita’s eldest); and sisters Cristin Rose, 7, and Prime, 1 year and 2 months, all perished.

As Nita waits to be called by personnel from the MDM committee, Nita holds back tears as she recites from memory the names of those who disappeared.

This trip to the ICP is definitely not Nita’s last visit, with the local government here strict about only allowing the immediate family to process death certificates and other claims at the compound.

There are 12 other relatives to process, and the rest of the family (there are few remaining) is busy tending to everything else at the Lorenzo S. Sarmiento Sr. National High School evacuation center.

The entire family of April Mae Raganet-Lorica, 26, vanished that night: husband Ronald Lorica Sr., 38, and children Ron Trex, 14; Ronald Jr., 10; Gerald, 9; and Jon Rex, 6. Five days later, the bodies of Ronald Sr., Ronald Jr., and Jon Rex were found.

Helen Baybay, 50, Nita’s sister-in-law who accompanied her at the ICP, told MindaNews in a phone interview on Tuesday that the bodies of Nenemil and daughter April May had since been found

Monday afternoon.

Ramil’s body was also found at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

Nita and her husband

Sergio Raganet Jr., 53, are barely making it to the Sarmiento evacuation center. While the resources are abundant, and food

and other necessities are available, the other expenses leave the rest of the family wondering

Maco LGU MACO Mayor Arthur Carlos Voltaire Rimando, Davao de Oro Governor Dorothy Gonzaga, Congressman Ruwel Peter Gonzaga, board members Ruwina Gonzaga, and Vivencia Secuya visit ground zero for monitoring and assessment.

Photo by YAS D. OCAMPO MindaNews NENITA RAGANET, carrying baby Jessa Mae, arrives at the Incident Command Post in Barangay Elizalde in Maco. She has lost 13 of her relatives in the landslide.