3 crushed dead by walls loosened by heavy rains

CEBU, Philippines - Three people were killed after being crushed by collapsing walls in two separate incidents in barangay Tisa, Cebu City, and barangay Biasong, Talisay City, yesterday morning following heavy rains.

Early morning yesterday in sitio Tabaylawom, barangay Tisa, a 49-year-old woman was crushed to death when a portion of the walls of Casa Rosita subdivision gave way following the heavy downpour.

City Disaster and Coordinating Council head councilor Gerardo Carillo said the victim was identified as Whelma Farba, 49, who was the last one to evacuate the house around 4:30 a.m. yesterday.

Pieces of the broken wall of Casa Rosita, approximated to weigh about a ton, crashed onto the roof of Farba’s house which was located just outside the wall.

Farba’s husband Danilo, 48, and their two children, one of whom is pregnant, managed to escape.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña went to the site of the accident and ordered the issuance of a cease and desist order to the developer of Casa Rosita, the Arcenas Development Corp.

The project was ordered stopped as it was seen to endanger almost a hundred houses just outside the project.

Its contractor, Loop Construction was likewise ordered to stop work other than doing remedial measures. 

It took rescuers three hours to extract Farba’s body from the rubble using heavy equipment provided by Loop Construction. Carillo said the wall gave way because of a load of stockpile added by the heavy downpour.

The Department of Social Welfare and Services immediately took care of the immediate needs of the family.

Flooding caused by the rains were also reported in barangays Mabolo, Inayawan, Pahina-San Nicolas and Tejero.

Meanwhile, a man and his four-year-old daughter were killed after a wall also collapsed on their shanty around 5 a.m. yesterday in sitio Central, barangay Biasong, Talisay City.

Rogie Flores, 24, a house painter, and his daughter Divine Grace were crushed to death after a big portion of their neighbor’s cement wall fell on their house.

Eva Hermosa, 31, the sister of Rogie’s wife, Geraldine, said around 5 a.m. they were awakened by screams and came out to find Rogie’s house buried under rubble and soil.

The Floreses built their small shanty just about two meters from the back perimeter fence of the house of their neighbor Martino Piala which was slightly elevated and resting on filling material.

Hermosa said when rescuers pulled Rogie out he was still alive but later died, his daughter was already dead when found.

Geraldine, 25, was rushed to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, while her only surviving child, a three-year-old daughter, is now in the care of Geraldine’s mother.

Biasong barangay captain Marlowe Dagohoy said the Pialas have already promised to shoulder all the burial and hospital expenses of the Floreses.

Dagohoy said a team from the city engineering office already inspected the site, and it is now up to the city government to take proper action on this case. The barangay, he said, is also set to inspect walls in the vicinity to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.

Residents of the area are actually now worried that with continuous rains the exposed soil and the septic tank of the Pialas would give in and would fall on them.

Hermosa said that being a depository of the Pialas’ wastewater, as the family has no proper drainage system, their already unstable ground has been further weakened. — Ferliza C. Contratista and Liv G. Campo/BRP (THE FREEMAN)